Verboten
by Kikurukina Bal Des'cagel
Summary: Verboten GERMAN: 'forbidden, prohibited, banned.' Roxy will embark on a personal odyssey of epic proportions. She will travel the universe fighting evil and good and deciding for herself where her place in the universe is.
1. Chapter 1

**Verboten  
Chapter 1**

Monday, May 25, 2009

**Disclaimer:** I do not own. By the way, I don't own Harry Potter, the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, the Mallorean, the Belgariad, Stargate, etc.

I do not claim that this story is historically or culturally accurate in any way.

**Fore Note:**

Setting: (things to consider when reading this story)  
1. This is partly fanon because its about how Roxy interprets magical society. I have made up some of the facts to get more interesting reactions from Roxy and all the other characters.  
2. Starts off after episode 6 (Fairy in Trouble).  
3. THIS IS AN ALTERNATE TIMELINE. It means that even though this happens during season four and follows it closely, events do not have to happen in a specific order.

WARNINGS: (the following themes are dealt within the text or mentioned about briefly)  
Swearing; uncombative-related violence, domestic violence (e.g. Bloom getting slapped by Sky, Bloom throwing fireballs at Sky); racism; blood; light gore; death; theology; sexuality; etc. Can be expanded.

* * *

**Around midnight**

Roxy yawned wearily as she tried to catch up on some reading. She was in the storage room of the Frutti Music Bar taking a break. It was fairly late and music from the bar boomed obnoxiously loud into the backroom behind the bar. She sat on a crate and dipped her hand into a bag of chips. She was reading '_Basic Magic: Level One_.' It was an old elementary book of spells from Flora that she had used to study from when she was a child. Bloom had used it during her first year to catch up and Roxy was learning from it.

The book had been doodled in and there was the occasional line of helpful notes written by Bloom. She had never really tried any of the spells because inwardly, it was simply too incredible to believe that a book existed. It seemed to come straight out of the realm of Harry Potter.

Roxy continued reading and ate more chips. She heard someone open the storage room door and music spilled in.

"Well, aren't we a little studious, huh?"

"EEP!" Roxy jumped from her seat on the crate and hid the book behind her back, embarrassed. She was not sure why it was embarrassing except for the fact that she might be found with that book by a non-believer (although who would go into the storage room?). Her face automatically became tomato-red and she tried to sit on her book. "O-oh, h-hi, He-helia!" she said in a high-pitch squeaky voice, eyes wide and cheeks blazing.

"Calm down, I'm not gonna run out and scream that you're reading a spell book to everyone in the bar." Helia stood with his hands on his hips and a smile on his face. He wore khaki shorts and a white polo along with a purple apron around his hips. He leaned in his face towards hers. "You should smile a bit more. You're always depressed and this makes the customers sad if there aren't greeted by a smile on your pretty face. Smile!" he encouraged. "Don't worry about the Black Circle. They're not gonna ambush you while we're around."

Roxy steadily started to smile although she looked at some obscure corner of the room to her blush. His eyes, she wanted to avoid those especially. Every time she looked into them, she felt like he was looking into her soul and she was not sure if she wanted that.

Sporting his new haircut in a high ponytail (for work-related reasons, of course), he had soft bangs that reached his brow and two long loose locks of hair that spill over his ears that had managed to escape his ponytail. Dark sapphires for eyes framed by long lashes and high cheekbones; although he claimed to be a weak almost magicless being, his serene face bespoke a sense of knowledge and teacher figure in him which more than compensated when he helped her deal with her magical issues like when she would occasionally hyperventilate about her recent discoveries. There was a trustworthy air about him.

"Hello?" Helia waved a hand in front of her face.

Roxy realized that she had spaced out for moment and came back to the present. "Oh, um, hey?" She slid the book from behind her and placed on her lap. "Is it closing time?"

"Almost, give it another half an hour," he informed. "What are you reading?" He plucked the book right out of her lap and peered at the cover. "Basic Magic by Valerius Avalon…isn't that the magiphilosophy teacher at Alfea?" he more or less said the last part to himself. The specialist paged through the book making all sorts of sounds of approvals and disapprovals ("Wow, this book is old…"). Finally, he came to the page with Roxy's pink bookmark.

She blushed faintly knowing he would quirk his eyes or something at the spell on the page.

"Eros Love Attraction Spell?"

* * *

**Latter Note:** This story came to me when I was drawing the thumbnails for my Winx comic. At the moment, my comic is at a halt because I have exams, IB personal projects and bathroom graffiti projects to worry about. There will be more chapters and this story will be subjected to editing.

I wrote this story in hope of inspiring some critical thinking in this fandom as well writing something that I would enjoy: violence, heavy philosophy, death and darker themes in general. Personally, I am sick of the amount of outright shoddy 'romances' out there. I haven't read a good story that had me at the edge of my seat. Don't get me wrong. I like romances but romances are not meant to be the focus of the journey.


	2. Chapter 2

**Verboten  
Chapter 2**

Friday, May 29, 2009

**Disclaimer:** I do not own.

* * *

He did not speak for a few moments. Roxy watched him open and close his lips in an attempt to form words but they failed him. Anxiety built inside her as she waited for his reaction.

"You're not…actually contemplating using this, are you?"

"NO!" she yelled seeing as he was physically shocked at the page. She supposed that love spells were dangerous in a magical world, remembering all the old legends about love spells backfiring on Greek and Roman gods alike. "N-no, no, no, no! I was just reading them for fun! I haven't actually tried any of them! Honest, I swear!" She tried to take the book away from him but failed.

Roxy supposed that since she was surrounded by fairly attractive extra-dimensional boys working as waiters and as her coworkers in the bar on a daily basis (and who happened to all be taken, at that) that maybe reading a few love spells was not a good idea.

"Why don't you try something a little more basic? Like…" he flipped back to the front of the book and leafed through it. He stopped at a particular page and read through it quickly. "Like this one here," he gave her the book and pointed at the spell: Basic Ignition Spell also known as Fire Spell. "Even I can do this with my lack of magic. Read."

She read the instructions and the basic physics behind the spell. _When there is a sufficient amount of flammable fuel, low humidity and oxygen around, users concentrate on a point of said fuel and compress constantly moving magical and kinetic energy and heat located inside the air into the smallest area that can be imagined possible to form a spark to ignite the fuel. This thus creates a space of compressed heat. The temperature of the heat then rises to the point that it can burn something in an instant. The smaller the area imagined, the more powerful and larger the flame._

Roxy understood the basics although at the same time, it went beyond her perception of how reality should work. It just seemed too…surreal. As if she could control kinetic waves of energy to create enough to light a fire!

"Come on. Let's see you try this one now," Helia said as he ripped a piece of paper from his notepad and drew a large dot on it with his pen that he used to take orders.

"What?!" she almost screamed.

"It'll be fine. I highly doubt that you'll burn this building at your level of experience." He squatted and placed the paper on the concrete floor before him. "Come on! Just one try and then I'll go back to work!" he pleaded and whined like a child asking to be shown a secret. "It's not hard. You can do it, Roxy."

"B-but?!"

"Just concentrate on a fire appearing where this dot is, Roxy."

"B-but, I can't! No, I can't. I-I—!" she stuttered, feeling pressured and overwhelm by his sudden childishness. She held the book in her hand tightly and bit her bottom lip. "I-I just can't!" She took deep breathes feeling like she was suffocating and blinked her eyes several times.

Seeing her physical reaction, Helia's voice took on a softer tone and went to stand beside her. Softer, caring, more comforting his was voice. "Hey, hey, hey—don't cry," he in a hushed tone despite the loudness of the bar. At that, tears started to fall down her cheeks. "Take a deep breath. Remember, magic is in you, Roxy. You believed in it once and the girls achieved their believix because of you. You just need to believe that you can make magic happen yourself."

"But I just _can't_! This can't be real, Helia! I'm not like Bloom or Flora or Stella!" Maybe that was the problem. She believed in magic once and then suddenly, half dozen extra-dimensional girls were able to attain a certain level of magic. Where was the logic in that? They get power-ups and what did she get? Roxy closed her eyes tightly. Her eyes were watery but she did not want him to see her weakness.

"Roxy, open your eyes."

She shook her head vehemently in response. Her hands clutching the book shook nervously. "N-no…" her voice was raspy and her lips felt dry.

"Open your eyes. Tears are normal, Roxy. Everyone cries for the little things because it's those little things that matter most. ROXY!" he plucked the book out of her shaking hands and placed it on the shelf. He produced a handkerchief from his pocket in one hand and opened one of her hands to place it in her palm and close her fingers around it.

"Come on. We're going to take the last orders for night soon. Stay in here and clean up. I'll handle the bar, okay?" he said reassuringly. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you cry, Roxy, okay? Open your eyes and look at me, Roxy."

Resistant, she opened her eyes to see his face right in front of hers. His sapphire black eyes crowned by unruly long bangs looked in hers, pleading forgiveness. Her small hands were cupped by his longer, bigger hands. They held her hands tightly around the handkerchief he had given her in a firm but reassuring manner.

"I-I—!" She wanted to respond but she could not form a coherent sentence in her mind.

"I'm sorry for making you cry. I'm going to go now, okay?" he said, almost as if he were asking permission. "Everything will be alright in the end, Roxy. Just remember that." His eyes were arched in a pained manner and his lips made a frown.

She opened her mouth to try and say something but nothing came out. He seemed so concerned and sincere. Roxy did not know what to do that. She had never expected this from her new extra-dimensional friends, let alone from one of the guys. A retreat or an attack from an unseen angle? She had never thought that such sympathy would come to her on such a strange and surreal subject. It was comforting.

"I'm sorry for pressuring you. I hope we can still be friends after this."

A few moments later, he searched through the storage room for a specific box of bottles that had originally brought him there and brought it out.

* * *

**Latter Note: **Mushy? Maybe...

Again, I apologise for a lot of grammar mistakes. I'm sure there's a dozen per paragraph.


	3. Chapter 3 Immortality

**Verboten  
Chapter 3**

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

**Disclaimer:** I do not own.

* * *

It had been decided by everyone, minus Roxy, that Roxy needed to be watched and accompanied everywhere she went for fear that the Black Circle would pull an unforeseen magical hand on her. Sky, being mission commander of this whole situation and captain of the squad, had thought about this arrangement carefully for a full day, occasionally pacing and screaming in frustration as to what to do with Roxy's safety. It was Sunday now and Sky had decided for everyone that they would meet Sunday morning at the wharf much to Roxy's dismay who was supposed to go to Mass with her father.

At this point, she needed religion to keep her grounded. She needed something familiar to connect with. All these discoveries about magic, the Black Circle, the specialist and the Winx Club were driving her insane.

But no, instead she has to sacrifice her Sunday to learn more about her newly discovered magical powers and the marvelous plan to keep her safe. Her father…was he safe?

Roxy walked with her shoulders slump and a frown on her face as she followed Riven down the street towards the quays. Artù was on his leash with her. It was early morning and there was a slight chill in the air. Very few people were awake or even on the streets and the sun had only just risen an hour ago.

She observed the 'specialist,' as they liked to call themselves, before her. Dark red spiked hair, pale skin, ripped with muscle; he looked like more of someone who would enjoy extreme sports and other adrenaline-inducing activities—an adrenaline junkie? She did not see the 'whatever' it is she was supposed to see in him. Was there supposed to be some military quality about him?

The guy pretty much acted as the aggressive opposition to Sky, the charming…well, she was thinking more along the lines of 'prince' but officially, he was a king… (_'Let's call him the smooth-talker or the diplomat.'_) All the time, Sky and Riven would challenge each other to a friendly sparring match just outside on the beach-side of the bar. Sometimes, even Helia, Nabu and Brandon jumped into the fray but never Timmy. During one of these 'sparring matches' that seemed to attract crowds (business!) to the bar, Timmy did try to explain the need to boast each others egos at the other but words failed him every time ("Let's just say it's a archaic male thing and that Brandon and Sky happen to come from a very old-fashioned kingdom."). She suspected that this passive-aggressive relationship had been going on for years before they even came to Earth.

She just did not understand him. One minute he is rude and aggressive and wearing his male ego but next, he was a generally well-liked gentleman. She usually heard him speak when Musa was around, and he was usually brash and sometimes even rude. When the musical fairy was gone though, it seemed that the whirlwind of angry in him was gone and was even an amiable conversationalist while he worked, although he was a little less talkative. The guy barely looked like a year older than her, anyways and judging from his level of dexterity and strength in the 'fight,' he was either very talented or trained from a young age.

Which brought her to new subject: how old was he? Were magical beings capable of slower aging like Polgara or Belgarath from David Leigh's series the _Belgariad_ or the _Malloreon_ or maybe immortality like the elves from the _Lord of the Rings_? Was he like one of those immortals who looked young but had the knowledge of countless men (or women)? How old was he? A hundred years? A thousand? Older than the planet Earth was young?

They came to a stop at a crosswalk and waited for the signal.

"Riven, how old are you?" she asked bravely. This was the first time that she was actually talking to him one-on-one.

Riven was in his own world, it looked like, thinking of other things. He looked down at her, barely turning his head to her. He rare mauve eyes looked thoughtful, as if calculating something. "Why?" he said bluntly.

"I just want to know how old you are."

He face hardened, more angular and defiant. "Why?"

Frustrated, she tried to explain to him what she had just been thinking, "In the magical universe, does immortality exist? Or living extremely long amounts of time?"

"Ah…it depends. Longevity and immortality are heavily debated subjects in Magix." His expression softened a little to something friendlier. "What is your definition of a regular lifespan?"

Confused, she asked, "Wait, what do you mean?"

He sighed and took a moment to rephrase his question, "On average, how long does a human from Earth live?"

"Uh…fifty to seven-five years if you're really healthy. Max—a hundred and twenty if you're the Queen of England."

"The…Queen of England…?" The traffic had stopped and light signal changed to 'walk' and they proceeded to walk.

"Oh!" Roxy followed him and realized that he knew nothing about Earth politics and clarified with "She's a queen in another country. The kings and queens sometimes live for a really long time because they don't live a very stressful life."

He nodded briefly and continued, "What does my age have to with all of this?"

"Well, in the magical universe, is living up to five hundred years normal? Does immortality exist?"

"That depends on where you come from. Straight up, yes, people can live up to five hundred years maybe even thousands depending on your origins but is it normal? It depends. Every species or races have their own norms about age so you would have to ask an individual person of that race about it."

"And immortality? Does it exist?"

They stopped at another crosswalk. The sound of water crashing up the concrete piers echoed through the streets and the lighthouse was a lot closer. Riven made a weary face as he contemplated the subject, "Immortality, as in just being able to live forever notwithstanding things that could kill you like sickness or fatal wounds—I would like to think that kind of immortality doesn't exist…" Riven watched as a dozen cars zipped by him with a pensive face.

The light changed they continued their way to the quays, occasionally stopping for Artù to sniff around as dogs were wont to do.

"But does it exist?"

"There are some people—_just some_—who are older than the beginning of society, apparently, if that's the right way of calling it. It's a scary concept to explain but there are some people who…who, um, can _evolve_ on genetic or chemical level to survive and adapt with the current norms. It's like being naturally able to make a fairy evolve into a mermaid but without the thousand years of waiting to fully adapt. Scientifically, we have proven immortality, as in invincibility, where we could pelt you with diseases or shoot you up with bullets and you would survive in perfect lab conditions but immortality, as in longevity—no, there's no proof yet. It would be difficult to prove anyways. Why do you care about immortality anyways?"

Her father. Her father was old and not in top shape to fight anything let alone wizards. What would happen if they came attacked him while she was away?

"I was just thinking…" She was not sure if she should tell him but maybe he could her feelings about it, "My father. What happens if the Black Circle goes for him? He has no magic, I think." Well, for the somewhat-twenty years of her life, she was pretty sure he had no magic.

"Immortality for your father?" Riven pieced together carefully. "He's fine. Don't worry about him. I'm sure Sky's putting the royal spies who are constantly watching him to good use watching your father."

Roxy did not feel any less worried about her father and her home in general. Total magical strangers watching her fathers every move did not bode with her well. Something in her heart ached for the old man. How would she survive if he just…

…died?

Roxy suddenly remembered her question that had started this whole discussion, "So, how old are you?"

She needed to think of something else. Something a little less morbid and frightening. Life without her father was _not_ an option. She was going to get through this mess for her father's sake. Screw the Earth or the magical dimension! That grouchy old man who raised her up while working late shifts at the factories when she was young was more important than the survival of the whole universe. With renewed energy, she squared her shoulders and raised her chin defiantly in the obstacles that awaited her.

"I'm twenty-one. Wanna stop by the café over there to get coffee? You look like you're gonna die," Riven said nonchalantly and pointed at the coffee shop coming up the street.

* * *

**Latter Note:** Riven is a little more talkative then usually seen but those were usually when it touches about personal issues. I would think that he was better off having a conversation about something not as meaningful to him with a fairly complete stranger than talking to Musa about his mother who supposedly abandoned him. Making sense?


	4. Chapter 4

**Verboten  
Chapter 4**

Wednesday, June 3, 2009; Posted: Saturday, June 6, 2009

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Winx Club.

**Fore Note: **Yeah, I have to agree with what Riven did last chapter was too advanced from what we usually know him as. I think though, that he is capable of that level of conversation considering he should have theoretically graduated from Red Fountain. We have the consider that people who follow extended schooling into any form of college or university in the real world, that they do have a modicum of intellect. Be it in the fields of Arts & Science/Letters (i.e. history, political science, anthropology, literature, etc.), Pure Sciences or the Fine Arts. Take Helia for example who studied the fine arts but pursued to complete his education in Red Fountain, a militaristic college/university.

We can also take this in the view of multiple intelligences like Howard Gardener who "suggests that each individual manifests varying levels of different intelligences, and thus each person has a unique "cognitive profile." Cognitive profile and intelligence in this case meaning the ability to learn. Riven might have a very strong linguistic and intrapersonal intelligence but he may have an extremely poor interpersonal intelligence.

* * *

She blinked once. She blinked twice.

She looked at him wondrously. It was awkward moment and she blew out a breath of air as if the wind had been knocked out of her. His face was so serious and so…sincere—that she really wanted to laugh. Chances were that she really needed the coffee but God, he just said that out of nowhere. Like seriousness of the entire conversation had gone out the window with that one question.

Riven watched her have her little laughing fit. She was bent down with her hands on her knees and Artù looking up at her expectantly.

"Yeah, yeah, sure. I could use a coffee. Haaa…I'm sorry. It was just you were so random…"

Riven shrugged off her reaction and reasoned that: 1) she probably had low energy and 2) she was a girl, thus he reasoned all women in general were strange; some more than others.

"Anything you want specifically?" he continued. "Did you even have breakfast yet?" he asked seriously.

She straightened up, this time, with a smile on her face and he quirked an eyebrow at her in response. "Um, no, I didn't really eat yet…" she said guiltily.

"I'll buy you a sandwich or something then and you can eat on the way."

"Wait, wait, wait!—what?!" He was not going to pay for her, was he?

"Don't worry about it," he said, "I need the coffee anyways."

"But that's not right! I should pay for my—"

"And me being nice isn't normal. You need breakfast and I need a coffee; common goal. Just stay out here with Artù. I don't think they'll let you in with him. You can pay me the difference later." He pointed at a no-pets sign on the glass of the café.

Roxy felt like there was no arguing with him, seeing as his plan was the simplest. She bit her lower lip slowly. "Fine, get me hot chocolate or mocha if you can…please."

-

They were on the pier now and walking towards one of the wharfs with the lighthouse. Seagulls flew overhead and Roxy admired their freedom to fly whenever they wanted. She wanted to fly now but that would have to wait. Riven had finished his coffee earlier in essentially four gulps but Roxy was barely through her hot chocolate. Her sandwich was safely tucked in her shoulder bag for later consumption.

It was still early morning and there was light mist over the harbor.

"What is the magical dimension like?"

"First of all, there is not just _one_ magical dimension. There are many. We all just happen to go to school in the same place, that's all. Magix is not that very different from here, but a little more advanced and a little more magical. Walking on Earth is like traveling back in time for me but then; there are some dimensions or realms that replicate the cultures here. Like Melody, that's Musa planet, looks like Chinatown on a larger scale except their culture is based off sound," he explained.

"And the others?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like Sky or Layla's?"

"Sky is a theological monarchy. They believe in the whole prophecy dictate our lives religious crap. Layla's place, Andros aka Tides, is eighty percent water so most of her population is underwater. Before, her planet had less water because the polar ice caps of the planet were still intact until global warming became an issue."

Roxy carefully compartmentalized the information he had given her. Brandon and Sky's planet was Eraklyon, Stella was Solaria, Bloom was once Earth but now Sparks, Musa was Melody, Tecna was Zenith, Layla and Nabu was Andros, Flora was Linphea…she mainly had the planets of only the girls, she realized.

"And what about you?"

Riven did not answer for a long moment. "I'd rather not say."

"Wa-why?!"

"It's not something especially proud of. Just leave it at that."

"Oh…" Roxy did not want to pressure him or make him uncomfortable so she moved on the next topic. "And Timmy?"

"Magix."

"That's it?"

"Yeah?"

"Helia?"

"He never said but I assume he comes from the same place as his grandfather."

"His grandfather?"

"His grandfather Saladin is the headmaster of Red Fountain, our school."

Roxy tried to understand the concept of multiple universes. Basically, planets were bigger versions of countries or nations though a lot more numerous than expected. Not everyone came from the same type of 'culture' or even the same level of technology? It seemed like that. But what about individual countries on each planet? She highly doubted that only one government ran an entire planet. It just would be impossible to administer. She reasoned that there probably smaller estates or countries on the planets and that there was one representative monarchy.

They turned down a corner that brought them onto the wharf with the lighthouse at the end. Roxy could vaguely see the shapes of people towards the end. There was maybe three or four people there; they were tall and straight bodies. The boys. She looked for the girls and saw them nowhere in sight.

Riven started a brisk walk towards the guys and Roxy followed with Artu. Unexpectedly, in mid-step Artu froze sniffing the air and with one paw hanging in the air. His tail started to wag slowly and then faster and then he set off at a run until he reached the end of his leash.

"Artu, what is wrong with you?!" Roxy reprimanded. She kept a tight rein on his leash and tried to pull him back a little.

Artu seemed determined to go in that direction and tugged on his leash vehemently to emphasize his point but Roxy did not relent, worried that he would do something strange or fall off the wharf. Instead, she took cautious steps forward and tried to keep a good grip on his leash.

As they approached the base of the lighthouse, the boys' forms became sharper and sharper and she found Sky and Nabu sitting on a concrete block and Timmy and Brandon were standing nearby. At Sky's feet laid a whiter short-haired retriever. The new dog, unleashed, stood up and looked up towards Sky, tail wagging.

"Is that what you want boy?! Huh-huh?!" Roxy teased Artu. He pulled hard on his leash and made a whiny sound despite the tightness of collar. "Uh, good morning," she said to the guys, "Where are the girls?" she asked, noting the lack of girls.

Artu pulled hard again, tail wagging excitedly. The other dog did not make any move towards to Artu and patiently and loyally stared at Sky.

"And, um, is that your dog?"

"Yes, this is Lady," Sky answered. "As for the girls, they're coming now." He pointed to something behind her. She supposed that they were not far behind.

"Mind if I let him go?"

"Sure," Sky said casually and pointed his attention to Lady, "Be nice."

Roxy cautiously let go of the leash and it went flying out of her hand immediately. Artu went for Lady who started to give chase. They ran around the base of the lighthouse several times.

"Morning Roxy," Bloom said as the girls came to join their little get-together. She yawned and took her place beside Sky. She noted Lady with a smile.

"Morning," Roxy said back.

Everyone exchanged their good mornings while Roxy felt out of place as she had no boyfriend. Stella had her back to Brandon who rolled his eyes and tried to explain the Mitzi-situation (and failed). It seemed that Flora did not have one either as she could not find Helia.

"Where's Helia?!" Flora panicked.

Everyone realized the lack of the artist and looked around making sure that no one else was missing.

"You don't think he fell, do you?" Stella stared at the edge of the pier afraid.

Sky looked up from his seat on the slab. "He's at the top."

"Wha-WHAT?!" Bloom asked incredulously and almost screamed. She looked up as well with her mouth hanging open. "Omigod…OMIGOD! He's at the top of the lighthouse?! How did he get there?!"

Stella gasped, "Someone, do something!"

-

Helia looked over the waist-high railing of the lighthouse and waved to the others below. He stood on a metal grating that encircled the lighthouse and there was the occasional bird nest and a couple coos.

The climb to the top had been certainly hard at first because there were no ladders or any footholds for the first two and a half meters. He ran and jumped several times before he caught the first rung of the ladder. Then, with the skill and endurance of ten years worth of acrobatics and gymnastics, he pulled himself until foot caught the rung and the rest was history. It was certainly worth it for the view.

Something in his back pocket start to ring and he realized it was his phone. He fished it out of his pocket.

"Hello? Oh, hi, Flora!—wait, wait, wait! Stop screaming into the phone, Stella! The view is amazing from here, did you know that? Fine, I'm coming down." With that, Helia jumped over the railing.

There was a girly shriek and dogs barking below.

-

"We are going to set up a contingency plan," Sky said as he led the group of thirteen and two dogs down to the warehouses. It was still early in the morning but the docks were quiet.

No one questioned what the new king had said. He stopped in front of one particular warehouse with rusting doors and opened it. He motioned for them to go in quickly. They did and he closed the door quickly, trapping them in darkness.

Stella yelped when she saw the last of darkness overtake the light.

The sound of a generator starting startled everyone and the lights began to slowly brighten the room starting with an ugly gray-yellow. In the center of the room were a large stack of heavy-looking iron bolted boxes each bearing the escutcheon of the Eraklyon royal family and specific set of numbers and letters signifying a code. They were all piled to form a four-box high rectangular prism of sorts.

"What's going on?" Bloom asked aloud, hoping that someone other than Sky or Brandon would explain. She recognized the Eraklyon heraldic symbol on the spot and she had an idea about their imperialistic politics.

Roxy did not say anything as she did not understand what the symbols on the boxes meant. They just looked like any bunch boxes that could be found in any warehouse, albeit they looked steel-enforced, important and were piled in peculiar way.

"As I said," Sky came from some dark corner of the room to stand in front of the crates, "We are going to set up a contingency plan. Everyone, this is the real deal. We aren't transporting sedated criminals or playing animal control for terrorized cities. People's lives—the lives of Earth are in danger if we don't do anything. Roxy, listen to me carefully because this is for you," his voice was deep and commanding; extremely serious as if someone's life was at stake, "_If something goes wrong, you will come to this warehouse_," he enunciated every word harshly. "Do you understand?"

Roxy nodded feebly, realizing that this was not the Sky she knew from work; the cheerful smile or encouraging word of advice or his sheer dumb-blondness in general. None of those fitted the persona of a man on a throne. He was thoroughly somber about the whole affair and she knew that the 'the lives of Earth are in danger' meant primarily _her_.

A new level of realization hit her: her life was endangered. How did she not see this before? Someone wanted her dead.

The Black Circle would not mourn the lost and she was not sure if any of the boys or the Winx would either. Not the whole magical universe and surely not anyone of Earth aside from her father and Artu.

* * *

**Latter Note:** Slightly random but the next chapter is much more important. I know that Roxy's thoughts are really late and badly developed but I don't want to spend too long on them or base an entire chapter on them because that would just be depressing. Right now, she's only discovering that many dangers that come with being a fairy and therefore she does not know what to expect or how to act because she has no previous experience. Technically, she's being exposed to many unknown dangers and objects such as the 'strange but normal-looking crates with the Eraklon escutcheons.' She has no idea what they are or the significance of the boxes and therefore, does not know how to act. To her, they probably look like regular boxes found in warehouses.

ArtuxLady? Can you imagine the genetic implications of that?


	5. Chapter 5

**Verboten  
Chapter 5**

Wednesday, June 3, 2009; Posted: Tuesday, June 9, 2009

**Disclaimer:** I do not own.

**Fore Note:** Look at the rate I'm writing this story...

* * *

There was the quiet hum that lights made when electricity was flowing through them. The lights themselves looked old and about to burn out, some of them flickering and emitting a yellowish light. The air was damp from the salt water and a little musty from God knows what was roosting in the eaves. The warehouse was enormous but what little could be seen from that was obscure by the pile of steel-boxes stacked neatly.

Everyone, save for Sky, stared at the boxes dumbfounded. Sky stood before them all with a serious face. Bloom stood behind most of everybody, unsure of what was going on. She gave Sky a meaningful look, hoping that he would tell her or everybody something.

Who was he? Where was the Sky that she was used to? What was that speech about transporting criminals or playing animal control for terrorized cities? What was this 'real deal' thing about? Was something going to happen?

Bloom looked into her fiancé's face for clues. She found none that would distress her. Instead she saw a different man who had his shoulders squared, his back straightened and a face harden by some unfathomable horror. His hair was pushed out of his face and his lips were in tight flat line. His eyes never wavered. She saw no optimism or any of those cheery smiles that she loved.

"This is what's going to happen…" There was no room for questions in his voice because it sounded that what he was offering was the only and absolute way to do it.

Was he usurping the leadership role that he had been meant to always be?

"I have bought this warehouse for the sole purpose of making this the base of operations on Earth. This will save us time from requesting any materials from the provisions department and we will have a stronger connection to Magix in case something goes wrong."

Bloom had to admit that was a very smart idea. There was no way that she could have done something because she had no idea how to exercise her imperial power. She supposed that as soon as she married him, she would have to be Queen. Would she be fit to be Queen?

"I will also house some of my 'royal spies' here," Sky's voice started to lighten up a little and he gave a defiant look to Riven. The redhead just rolled his eyes. "They will be here 24/7 and be there to provide backup. In the boxes behind me is everything that we will need right now to set up a communication link to Magix and the basic furniture for cots, tables and chairs. Today, we will start unpacking everything and building it. I want this warehouse to be as safe as a fortress!" he ordered, "That means we will have to set up trap spells and surveillance systems and everything in between. We will get more stuff as we clear the boxes." Sky tapped his knuckles on the steel boxes making an empty echoing sound.

There was an awkward tenseness in the room. Where did they start?

"So wait," Layla was the first one to speak, "We're going to build all of this by ourselves?" she pointed to the boxes, "We're only six fairies and one wizard who can perform magic, let alone high-class spells!"

"Uh, well, no, Layla," Sky dropped his head low and blew out a breath. A smile pulled at his cheeks, "I have body guards everywhere and I'm sure all of them are bored watching me," Sky snapped his fingers and suddenly, a two dozen people fell from the ceiling to land neatly on the floor or on the boxes. "I'm sure they can help us build some of it. Let's get to work."

Had Sky usurped the title of leader from Bloom?

-

Roxy fell short from a heart attack from shock as people started falling from the ceiling to land neatly on their toes like ninjas but not quite. All of them were dressed in normal clothes and she noticed a trend in them: they were all within Sky's age range. She looked up to the rafters to see if there were more people.

"Your Imperial Majesty, everything you have requested for now is here," one of the 'ninja-like' people spoke up and went to stand before Sky. This one was a woman barely old enough to be a college-student, maybe not even a high school student. At minimum, Roxy pinned the girl as fifteen. She had long deep black-brown hair with long fringes that reached her eyes and she wore a simple outfit of worn sneakers, denim short shorts and a green shirt.

Wait, hadn't she seen her before? At the bar maybe? Yes, that was it! She was one of those weird overzealous girls who tried to flirt with Sky while he was working!

The…_girl_, because she was not quite a woman, moved closer to prince to have a more private conversation with her king. While that happen, Brandon and several of his fellow bodyguards and spies took an initiative to start opening the boxes. Soon everyone followed suit.

Primarily, everyone started from the top of the pile and moved the boxes to ground by the means of magic or by enhanced strength, as Roxy found out that some of the spies and Brandon had. At first, Roxy did not know how to contribute to the work as did neither the other Winx until someone asked them or Sky ordered them. Roxy then found herself opening boxes and separating them into piles to send to different corners of the room where they were either putting together furniture, computer parts or whatever else they needed.

The fun part actually just moving the boxes to the different corners of the rooms because she got to talk to all the different people. She did not start much of a conversation with them nor did they with her but there was always a thank you or compliment when she delivered them some part that was missing for their project. At the same, she was interacting with people who were not of her planet—aliens—but were supposed to be _her_ people. They all looked so normal and wore such normal clothes that it felt…_normal_ somehow.

Starting from the front of the warehouse where they came in, on the far left corner of the warehouse was where all the furniture for people to sleep in as well as a kitchen area. People were building kitchen counters and making plans to extend the plumbing from the already present bathrooms to make showers as well as the electrical. It had a rather homey feel to it when someone decided to spell the all the concrete walls into a neutral stucco beige wall. The sounds of hammers banging and people arguing over the plans came from that corner. On the far right, some people were arranging lockers and large boxes that had danger warning signs on them into some formation known by only Brandon who was leading them ("Weapon storage," Sky pointed out.). Right beside that, more people were setting up mats on the walls and floors to make something that looked like a sparring ring. Along with that, there were familiar pieces of gymnastic equipment such as a beam and spring board and some stranger pieces like ridiculously high uneven bar sets. Around the middle of the room, Timmy and some other people were setting up a circular platform that would house a central supercomputer station. All around the room, various magic users were drawing spells on the walls or floors or casting them with their voices. All of this was spearheaded by Sky and that girl in the short shorts who directed people bring things to certain places.

Roxy returned to pile of boxes in middle of the room and picked up a crowbar to pry open the lid of another crate. Layla helped her lift the heavy cover off and cleared the packaging of the box to see what was inside.

"Let's see…" the water fairy murmured lowly.

To put it bluntly, Roxy was still on awkward terms with the fairy. She was friends with her but she was not quite a personal friend like Bloom.

Inside were regular small cardboard boxes with white labels that said 'ration pack.'

"What's a ration pack?" Roxy said aloud.

"It's food," Layla answered. She pulled out one of the boxes and pointed at a list of words that said what kind of food was inside.

"Food?"

"Yeah, the kind where you just add water."

"You mean the kind that astronauts eat?"

"Astro…nauts?"

"Oh…" Roxy realized that an astronaut was probably a foreign concept to her, "They're people who go into space for exploration and sometimes travel to the moon."

"Primitive space travel?"

"Yeah, something like that, I guess..." Roxy felt a little sullen at the word 'primitive.' Despite finding out that she magic, Earth was still her home and anything that degraded Earth to primitive felt wrong. Earth was pretty advanced as far as Roxy knew.

"I'm sorry! Was that mean?!" Layla blurted out all of a sudden. "I didn't mean that—"

"No, no, you're right. I suppose it is primitive," Roxy waved her off. "It's okay."

"I'm sorry…I'm really bad with new people. I'm not really good with making new friends and I always screw up somehow."

"No, I swear it's okay."

It was another awkward moment.

"Layla!" someone called.

The water fairy's face stilled and then became flush.

Nabu yelled across the warehouse for her attention, "Have you seen a crate with parts for the bunks?" Nabu had been working on the bunk beds.

Layla answered his query all the while blushing and trying not to stare at him too long. Roxy watched exchange with mild interest and grinned devilishly at Layla when Nabu left.

"Wh-what?!" the water princess stuttered at Roxy's look.

"Nothing…"

The hours passed by much faster now as the girls quietly talked about things that girls were wont to do. It started innocently at first with how Roxy was adjusting to all this change and then subtly went to boys.

"So, tell me about Nabu?" Roxy asked, "Do you like him?"

"What? Of course, I do!" Layla defended herself. Quietly, she said, "I have to anyways because it's part of our arranged marriage."

_Oh…it's arranged…_

"You have an arranged marriage?!" Roxy looked up from the work she was doing.

She had an arranged marriage?! Wasn't that a little archaic?

"Yeah, it's one of the family's older traditions that we use if we feel a civil war between the tribes is about to break out…" she said, a little distant. The black girl's eyes were downcast concentrating on removing the packaging of the steel box.

"But isn't that a little…wrong?"

"Yeah, it is but I don't mind anymore. I used to care but I keep forgetting that it's not only me who is affected by my decisions. The people in general are. It's hard being a princess sometimes, especially from the northern kingdoms of Tides."

"But do you love Nabu?"

Layla whipped her head up. "Love?" Roxy could see doubt and embarrassment in the princess's brows.

"Well, okay, _like _him?"

"Oh, of course. I have to like him a little. He's honest and hardworking and that's what I like about princes from the southern tribes. In the north, everything is paperwork, paperwork, paperwork. There's so much formality sometimes the nobles barely get to see the light of day." Layla and Roxy discovered wool blankets and linen sheets in the box they were working on and sent it to where the bunks and kitchen were being built.

"What's the difference between the north and the south?"

"In the north," Layla started, "It's more formal kingdoms like with the big puffy dresses and big gaps between the people and government. It's very old fashion like at that medieval dinner we ate at last week except everyone is black like me. Remember when you showed me Africa in one of your textbooks in the bar?"

"Yeah."

"That's what Nabu's kingdom is like. They're smaller and we call them tribes. It's a little more simpler when it comes to the division of people and paperwork gets confusing but it works a lot better than it does in the north. Everyone is connected like one big family and families are usually bigger than one or two children. They're usually maybe ten." There was a slight yearning in Layla's voice as she said the last part.

"But, you like him, right?"

"Oh, of course. I just wish sometimes…" Layla looked at where Nabu was working. She blew out a breath, "Sorry, I'm just babbling now."

"Sometimes what?"

"Well, the north and south are completely two different cultures. Some things that they have in the north, they don't have in the south and…well, romance for people down there is different."

"What do you mean?" Roxy asked, craving for knowledge.

"They don't really do the 'kissing' thing," Layla said with a forced voice. She felt exposed and totally embarrassed at what she had admitted.

* * *

**Latter Note:** Um...is that a plot device I see?

Anyways, some bonding time with Layla/Aisha.

As a warning to everyone, it is very likely that once this story has run its course, it is most likely that it will not return to original timeline of season four. Meaning, and this is an example, if Sky breaks up with Bloom for Diaspro in this story but does not in the series, you have a discontinuity right there thus making it an alternate timeline.

Something like that.


	6. Chapter 6 The Value of a Kiss

**Verboten  
Chapter 6**

Sunday, June 14, 2009

**Disclaimer:** Um, this chapter is...um...I don't know. I just write; I don't profit from this except for the joy that my readers get from this.

**Fore Note:  
**- Yes, I KNOW THAT NABU HAS KISSED LAYLA/AISHA in episode 12 or 13 of season 4. Thing is, people, that this is all happening around episode six or seven. It hasn't happened yet. ;-)  
- It is quite POSSIBLE that Nabu might have kissed Layla/Aisha at the end of season 3, as I am told by Phoebe Rerun but I'm going to pretend that Nabu did that under certain pretenses in this story. We have yet to see Nabu's side of the story. Remember, this is an AU/AT (Alternate Universe/Alternate Timeline). Anything can happen! ;-P

* * *

Lunchtime came in the form of three dozen pizzas and gallons of juice. Everyone had dropped everything they were doing as soon as Timmy and Tecna came in the boys' red sports car bearing food. Someone had slid open the rusty metal doors open to let the vehicle in and then quickly closed the doors. The vehicle came to halt in the middle of the warehouse and the couple started unloading the food while others improvised tables and chairs using the upturned metal crates.

Roxy grabbed a few slices of meat-lovers' pizza and a bottle of water and took her seat beside Layla who was still flush from what she had just admitted. The water princess nibbled a little bit of her pizza but found that could she not eat despite her roaring hunger.

Everyone was talking and taking note of the work that had already been accomplished. Bloom chatted idly with Sky's subjects, trying to get to know them while Stella flirted blatantly with others in an attempt to get a reaction from Brandon. Tecna was having a working lunch examining the computer that was being built between bites of pizza and having Sky explain to her how computers in Eraklyon worked. Flora ate with Helia in the corner farthest away from everyone and Musa tried to make conversation with Riven. Nabu was also having a working lunch and was off drawing spells on the floor still with several other spell casters using chalk and paint.

Artu laid at Roxy feet begging for pieces of meat and she indulged him a bit.

"What do you mean that he doesn't do the 'kissing' thing?" Roxy asked innocuously while giving her dog a stomach rub. "Does that mean he doesn't kiss you?"

What was the 'kissing' thing? Did that mean that Nabu did not kiss? Was Nabu's entire culture like that? Roxy found that thought as inconceivable as breathing was.

"Yes…" Layla let out, slightly mortified, while watching Nabu work on the floor.

"No way, you can't be seriously?!" Roxy asked in disbelief. "How's that possible? How can he not _kiss_?" she almost screamed aloud. Roxy realized that the last question sounded extremely awkward and a smile and snort escaped her.

Layla snorted and giggled as well and both girls fell into a laughing fit. No one noticed the noise they were making because the buzz of other people's conversations blocked them out.

"No, but seriously," Roxy continued. She leaned in to Layla, "Really? He doesn't kiss?"

Layla sobered up at the seriousness of the question. It sounded silly that entire culture did not kiss to Roxy but it was a reality for Layla. "Yes, he doesn't. I know it's pretty silly but…" Layla paused, "I don't mind because it's the way he grew up and I don't want to offend him or ask too much but I sometimes wish that he would…y'know." The water princess brushed her hand through her hair out of nervous habit.

"But why don't they kiss, his culture I mean? Is it something religious?"

Layla thought about this for a few long moments, trying to find the right words and concepts. "No, it's just he never grew up with it. He can do the peck on the cheek or hand but not on the lips. It's awkward for him."

"Is it just kissing, though? What about holding hands?"

"He can do that, no problem. It's just I wish…he would kiss me…y'know, that's all. Kissing is such a regular thing in the magical universe; everyone does it and we see it everywhere on TV and in movies but of all the men I have to marry, it's him. The one man who comes from a culture that just doesn't kiss. I mean, isn't kissing physical proof of the strength of one's relationship? It's not too much to ask, is it?" Layla looked up to Roxy seriously and ran her hand through her hair again. She looked at her lap, dejectedly. "What do you think?"

"Uh, well, I don't know. If he finds it awkward, there's not much you can do, I guess…" Roxy threw out. It was not her best piece of advice. She was not exactly actively pursuing boys on a daily basis and therefore did not know much nor was she totally celibate.

Layla seemed somewhat dissatisfied with the answer but replied with a "Thanks," and left the subject at that. She tried to concentrate on her lunch. Roxy did not blame her nor did she want to pursue the subject any further seeing as the water princess herself had hard time dealing with it. Who wouldn't?

Roxy looked around the warehouse and took special note of the men in it. Who would she marry? A regular Earthling or someone from the magical dimension? She could not imagine herself settling down and having a family like any regular person. It seemed like such a faraway dream compared to world that currently lived in with the threat of evil dark wizards who want to kill her or fairy princesses and their army-slick beaux wanting to help keep her alive. And what of the man himself? Would he be able to accept her?

Roxy looked around, her eyes falling especially on the heroes. What kind of man could possibly accept the reality she lived in? Could they accept the danger that she was in constantly? Apparently, Sky, Brandon, Riven, Timmy, Helia and Nabu lived with it for the last few years and plowed on through it all despite the risks for their beloved girlfriends. Maybe there was hope?

Sky came into sight as she pondered the danger that he had lived through just for Bloom. Roxy had learned of the entire three year vendetta with the Trix witches and their plans for world domination. A blank came to her mind as she tried to imagine Sky begging for Bloom to find her true self before she destroyed the whole world with the power of Realix while under the influence of this Lord Darkar's spell. She just could not. It just seemed so unrealistic. Too much like a trashy romance novel that she was prone to reading occasionally.

And what about Brandon? Roxy was sure that he had had more than his fair share of danger. Maybe even a dangerous overdose of it. Not only did he have to be on high alert for anyone who may threaten the blond king's life as well as any threats because of his attachment to Bloom, but there had also been Stella's life to worry about even though it was not part of his paycheck.

Was there a Mr. Right for her?

-

Helia had been working on setting up with living quarters of the warehouse all morning and had starting working on putting together the central computer system just before lunch had started. For the most part of the morning, he had been put to work building bunks, tables and chairs and also gave a hand with planning the plumbing and electricity that was to be made. Construction work was what he excelled at and having a keen spatial sense helped too. The computer was not hard to work with either. Even though he had rarely used those machines during his childhood and had only started truly working with it towards the beginning of his college years, Helia had a good grasp of the technology. It is just he often preferred meeting people face-to-face rather than on a window on screen.

Then again, the computers that Helia had used at Red Fountain and art school were not like the ones he had at home. Literally, they worked differently. The computers in Magix were like Earth computers and laptops, except smaller and faster. The computer that he had been exposed to during the end of his high school years were of the magical sort relying heavily on hologram images and spatial interfaces like the one that Tecna projected out of her hands or the translucent 360° green one she had generated when that fiend attacked Red Fountain in the year he returned.

"Helia, you haven't painted in a while," Flora noted simply.

Now, he sat on an upturned crate with Flora away from the social center that had been inadvertently created. Their half-finished slices of pizza laid on an empty corner of the metal box they sat on. The flower fairy had one of her arms hooked around the artist's and was content drawing circles in the palm of his hand with her fingers as if she were reading his future.

"I know. I just don't have the time anymore," Helia leaned his head to the side on hers.

There was still a lot of progress to be made with the warehouse, he noted while look around. They had accomplished a lot, that was sure but that was only thanks to the help of Sky's restless spies who probably had more magical experience than the Winx Club. A lot of what had been accomplished had used magic, small or big and even though the girls had a lot of magical potential, they did not have the knowledge or proper training that some of the Sky's Eraklyon spellcasters did.

Helia took in neutral beige colour of the wall; it was ugly and plain. He decided in the back of his mind that would remedy that somehow during his free time.

"Are you tired?" she asked, dropping his hand entirely. True concern laced her face. She couldn't blame him. Lately, there had been tensions between the girls and the guys that had all started with bar fight with the hunters. Was it such a bad thing that the boys came to watch over them?

After getting over the initial shock and feelings of betrayal and she thought that the boys thought that the girls could not handle themselves, Flora finally understood why they had came (accompanied by a couple of explanations from Helia though). She could not blame them and she actually appreciated the thought and the efforts that the boys made to keep Roxy out of the hands of the Black Circle. Flora could accelerate the growth rate of plants, give life back to forests and commune with the voice of Nature herself but there was no way she could swing a sword or throw a punch to defend herself.

That was her weakness.

That was all the girls' weakness.

They were graduated Alfea fairies with a new mission to protect that last fairy of Earth and their greatest weakness was their lack of physical prowess. They had knowledge of powerful magic and could understand complicated magiphilosophical concepts with their eyes closed but there was no way that they could outrun a flying witch on foot or defend themselves from a regular street mugging without the help of magic. Look at what happened when the Black Circle casted a dark spell on the pets at the shop that caused them to turn into monsters. It was mainly the boys who were risking their hide to wrestle the pets down so they could feed them the enchanted food.

How had Roxy survived?

Anyways, this whole tension had been started by Stella after she saw Mitzi in Brandon's arms and when the Andy and his boys came over to the girls' loft and ended up helping them paint the place. The tension had been escalating ever since. Bloom and Sky had somewhat resolved their issues but there was certain uneasiness that neither of them wanted to acknowledge when Andy was around at the bar. Stella and Brandon had only been getting worst and worst but Flora preferred to stay out of that and let _that_ run its course.

Flora turned slightly to face Helia even though he was leaning on her. She supposed that he was somewhat tired from all the random street fights with the Black Circle and possibly any fights that might have happened at night when he worked at the bar. She looked at him inquiringly, worried.

"No, I'm more nostalgic than anything else." He stared at something particular in the warehouse but Flora could not tell what it was exactly.

"Do you miss home?" Flora sure did. Home for her for the last three years had been the Alfea castle. Now that she was graduated, she really needed to start finding something a little more personal and permanent. She had started apartment hunting just before the beginning of the school year but all of that had come to halt with their new mission.

"Yeah, I do very much. Not Magix; I mean my real home with my mother and father," with some afterthought, he said, "I don't live with them anymore, anyways." He sounded like he missed them very much. "I bought my own apartment a long time ago and I just moved out of their house this summer. When I get back to it after all of _this_…I need to do some serious cleaning…" He babbled on more to himself.

Flora straightened up and turned to him, depriving him of the head he was leaning on for a pillow. "Wait, you have an apartment already?!" When had all of this happened?

Helia straightened up, "Yeah, I bought it just before coming back to Red Fountain. Something wrong?"

Flora became flush immediately. There was a thunderous collective laugh from the social center where everyone was eating. Was there a proper way of asking your boyfriend what kind of apartment he lived in without hinting that you were possibly interested in becoming his roommate? Maybe it was just not appropriate at all since they had only been dating for two years. It probably was and Flora preferred that he did not know but Helia figured it out, anyways.

"Interesting in becoming my roomie, are we, Flora?" he said plainly, "I don't recommend it despite all we've gone through." He wrapped an arm around her waist and gave a small smile to reaffirm his feelings for her.

"How come?"

He explained, "It's not in Magix, first of all. If you were planning on going university there, it wouldn't help because it's too far."

It's not in Magix? Did that mean he was not going to pursue further education to the university level in Magix? Where would that leave their relationship?

She preferred not to wonder about that and went on to another subject. "Well, what are you going to do once all of this is over?" Flora wondered. She knew nothing about his plans for the future. At times, she thought she knew him when she did not.

"I…I don't know, actually," Helia gave a brash smile and scratched his head, "I think that I'm just going to go back home and try to reconnect with my family. I haven't seen them in a while and I left some loose ends at home that I need to take care of."

"Well, what about Saladin?"

"It's nice to see my grandfather again, Flora. Don't doubt me on that but I never really grew up with him. It's kinda awkward sometimes because I don't really think of him as my 'grandfather.' I knew my grandmother more than him."

"Your grandmother as in…?"

"As in Saladin's wife."

Flora was slightly taken aback when Helia referred to his grandfather by his name. She guessed that that little quirk was one those things she did not know about Helia. She was sure that she would come to know him fully with time. After all, they had their whole life ahead of them now that school was finished.

-

It was mid afternoon now and Roxy was just about tired of being stuck inside the warehouse. All the steel crates had been opened and cleared out now and construction on new walls, plumbing and electricity had started for the residential area (using magic, of course). The kitchen was almost done.

Roxy turned attention away from the crockery she was arranging in one of the new kitchen cabinets and tilted her head in confusion as the same girl with the short shorts and long black hair had her hands raised about her to send wispy trails of greenish blue magic and surrounded the sparring ring to make translucent bluish-black sphere around it. Roxy observed her, curious as to how her magic worked.

She had seen Layla use her morphix objects before but those actions had never really made Roxy notice the level of magic. This one had decidedly made her notice the drop in temperature and a sudden gloominess in the room. It made Roxy shiver violently as if some dark wintery wind had come early swept through her body almost making her drop a ceramic plate. It felt dark and powerful, like the magic of wizards of the Black Circle…but not as malevolent.

The shape turned into the solid yellow wall and made a dome around the ring with thick walls and a reinforced bright red door that said 'DANGER.' What exactly was that girl doing? Or making?

Once all the misty magic dissipated, the strange short shorts girl made a pirouette and giggled, happy that she had accomplished her task—whatever it was. No one seemed to notice her except for all the Winx girls and some of the guys. Brandon and Sky were fairly ignorant of the dark force that had just passed through them. Whether it was by choice, no one knew. They were all staring at the girl, noticing the dark magic leave the room.

"What was that?!" Bloom stood up suddenly.

"What was what?" Sky asked, not bothering to look away from his work. He sat on the floor looking at a diagram on his knee.

They were both working on wiring the modems for the supercomputer—basically, putting the red wires in the red sockets and blue in the blue.

She looked back down at her fiancé. "Didn't you sense that black magic?" Something deep inside made her preternaturally angry, as if to defend herself and loved ones from the temptation of darkness which was the very purpose of Alfea fairies. That magic, it felt dark and powerful just like the witches of the Black Circle or the Trix. The fire fairy gave the long dark-haired girl a strange and menacing look.

"There's lots of magic circulating in this building, Bloom," Sky said, finally turning from his work. "What's wrong? Bloom? Bloom…? Oh, dear…"

Bloom did not hear his question as she was already half striding angrily towards the dark-haired girl, the apparent source of the dark magic. "_What are you?_" Bloom hissed.

The girl visibly jumped from her spot to turn to the fire fairy, confused. "I'm sorry?"

"_WHAT ARE YOU?!_" Bloom menaced. She pointed at her accusingly. Everyone had their attention the two women now. A contrast of colourful red-orange hair and plain metallic black; an adult-looking fire princess and a way-too young girl.

Sky came at a run to grab Bloom by her shoulders. "Bloom, calm down! Everything's fine!" he reassured but his face said _What is going on?!_

"Merciful Dragon," the girl swore, "What's your problem?!" The girl took several steps back from the fuming princess.

"My problem is you! You're a _witch_, aren't you?!"

* * *

**Latter Note:** Hmmm...a witch among the Sky's spies? And Helia, is his future moving further away from Flora's? How will Layla connect with Nabu if she can't kiss him? How will Roxy react to all this?


	7. Chapter 7

**Verboten  
****Chapter 7**

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

**Disclaimer:** I do not own!

**Warning:** Mildly offensive language!

* * *

The room was still, waiting and hoping that nothing would as well as hoping that something would happen. The angry emanating from the princess was almost palpable. Sky had caught Bloom and tightened his grip on Bloom's shoulders and even wrapped an arm around her waist and elbows to restrain. She struggled but was no match for him.

"You're a _witch_, aren't you?!" Bloom screamed.

Those words had hit Roxy like lightning and she felt her heart jump into her throat. Her grip on the plate she was holding tightened reflexively as she looked around at her new comrades that she had just made that day. They had a witch in their mitts? What did that mean?! Was everyone else around her witch?

Her face was stricken fear and confusion as she tried to understand what Bloom had said. A dark wintery chill had just overcome Roxy just moments ago just like when the Black Circle used magic to trap her in their spell. It had a similar level affect except from she was near the witches of the Black Circle, she had this shock or static-like feeling go through her body but still had same feeling of darkness in the air.

Bloom's brash insinuations suddenly had everyone moving into action except Roxy who did not know what to do except put down the plate she was holding. The new fairy stood shock-still and afraid of what would become of the conflict. People dropped what they were doing and chose a side between Bloom and the other girl. The Winx Club girls were standing behind Bloom ready to fight for her while their boyfriends stood before the girls as a barrier to prevent a confrontation. Half a dozen Eraklyon subjects had surrounded the supposed witch protectively. No one had pulled out a weapon yet but Roxy was sure that everyone would start fighting if one person did.

Stella stood right behind Bloom, eyes blazing with fury. She automatically looked for Brandon to see that he had her back. She scanned the warehouse for him and found him running towards the witch instead. He stood on the witch's side, pushing her behind him roughly. His face was strung with worry and confusion but obviously, he was for the other girl's side. Stella wanted to say something but she was not sure what.

The black-haired girl was offended by his gesture and all the same, pushed pass her wall of security with unexpected strength. Brandon was caught surprised by her actions.

"Don't give me this witch crap, you bitch." The girl started. Her voice was soft and lyrical but harsh like a leader. "I know what I am and I know what happened during the Day of Royals. You wanna accuse me of witchery?! At least have the nerve to show the proof!"

The dark-haired girl made slow careful steps towards the red-head, still restrained by her blond king. Her posse stepped out of her way as purple-black nimbus of shimmering magic radiated around her. Her eyes glowed white and her enviously long knee-length black hair floated in the air. She emanated anger.

Bloom stood strong but unsure now. She did not struggle in Sky's grip as much.

Sky started, "Hey, I'm sure we can—"

"SHUT UP!" Her voice echoed powerfully in the room and made the floor beneath them rumble. "I'm not going to fall for this shit about looking like a witch shit. First, you accuse our Imperial Princess Diaspro of not only being a witch, but being one of those fucking Trix. And then, you accuse me of being witch for who knows what. When will this insanity stop—?!"

Bloom felt Sky's arms loosen around her as he went to stand in front of her. "Asta, leave her alone! She doesn't know what she's saying," Sky defended.

"OH, _YOU _THINK SHE DOESN'T KNOW WHAT SHE'S SAYING?! Sky, I may not be an officially sworn in Eraklyon citizen but I know that if you marry that _girl_," she emphasized the word heavily, "the realm will fall into chaos. If this is how our future queen of Eraklyon will act, I don't think I want to be an Eraklyonite."

"Why, you little whelp! How dare you!" Stella screamed and threw a burst of white energy at the girl. "Don't you dare diss her!"

Brandon jumped in front of the attack, pulling out his sword to deflect it with the broad-side of his sword. The energy threw him off his feet but his fellow Eraklyonites came and caught him from under his arms just before he hit the floor.

"BRANDON!" Stella screeched, "No, no, no!" She ran to him but a blockade of people stopped her. They helped him get up but he waved them away and heaved himself up using his sword.

During all of this, the girl had not been moved by the fact that her comrade in arms had just taken a hit for her. Her face was devoid of emotion. She had barely turned her head to Brandon and continued on, "See what I mean? Look at her idiot friend. If she chooses her friends just as well as her choices, we're all doomed."

"Shut up! You don't know anything about me!" Bloom screamed. She had fists curled at her sides and eyes blinking heavily to prevent herself from tearing up. Inwardly, something told Bloom that what she was saying felt right. The fire fairy started to glow a fiery orange blue in preparation for a transformation.

"Actions speak louder than words, _princess_." The last part was like acid.

"And yours are louder, witch! You're the one showing off black magic!" Bloom threw herself at the witch, ready to transform but Sky caught her and pulled her back behind him.

"_Bloom!_" Sky had turned and reprimanded her like one would to a child, "You're not helping your case here!"

"But, Sky—!"

_SLAP._

In the moment of the situation, Sky had raised a hand on Bloom and slapped hard on the cheek. The sound had resounded through the warehouse and awakened everyone up to the current situation. Bloom's left cheek stung and reddened slightly.

"Shut up and listen carefully because I loosing my patience with this _idiocy_," he said facing to the posse formed around the other girl. Sky's baritone was a low whisper that no one had ever heard before, a threateningly serious but deadly voice that everyone heard. He faced Bloom first, "_You_ especially will be quiet." The fact that he had not used her name hurt her even more. "Power down now. That goes the same for you, too, Asta," he said to the other girl who pouted angrily.

He turned to Bloom first who forced herself to slow her heart rate down and think calm thoughts. It was especially hard considering what had just happened. She just wanted to cry but she could not do that just yet. He then turned to the other girl, who immediately dissipated the magic leaving no trace faster than Sky could turn his head to her. It was as if she had never used magic. She smiled cheerfully and gathered her hands behind her back and took on the image of a happy teenager.

"Everyone is going back to work," he said in a quick, efficient voice. When he saw that no one was moving from the tense situation, he roared, "_NOW!_"

Everyone except for the Winx Club, the specialists and the witch girl moved. The girls and their boyfriends were unsure of what to do because they were not his subjects. Brandon was being taken away to be examined for magical injures although he kept saying he was fine and Stella, emanating angry, was being restrained by Layla and Nabu, trying to calm her down. Like Hell she was going to let her best friend get slapped and not do anything about it. This was a whole new personality to Sky.

Sky roared some more orders to continue working and motioned that everyone, including the witch girl, to follow him into the yellow dome that had just been created and started the entire confrontation. As a last minute thought just before entering the doors, he said, "Roxy, come here." Roxy came at a run, unsure of what was going on with this witch business.

They entered through the doors of the chamber and found themselves into a sort of antechamber with the wall opposite to the doors carved up into a wondrous computer panel. Its main monitor happened to be the tainted window that had taken up the rest of the wall and through it Roxy could see the sparring ring. The small room was quickly filled with everyone and Bloom was silently crying tears and kneading her hands nervously. Roxy wanted to comfort her but was not sure how to go about it.

The girl leaned her bottom on the edge of the computer panel while the others minus Brandon took the other side with the door. Bloom stayed near the wall as far away she could from Sky to hide her face. Sky's face was a mask of pure anger; as if he was under Valtor's spell again and was ready to swing a solid steel poleax at her without regret. Sky stood in the middle of the room, the apparent mediator of the situation.

"This is Astrid Stryker."

* * *

**Latter Note:** Hmm…am I delaying the inevitable? What's wrong with Sky? Who is this barely fifteen year old teenager Asta Stryker and what's her deal about being called a witch? Is that a little vendetta I see blooming?


	8. Chapter 8 Racism

****

Verboten  
**Chapter 8**

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

**Disclaimer:** What would happen if I said 'Yes, I own the Winx Club?' *gets tackled by the Italian mafia*

**Fore Note: **Make of it what you will but there is some truth in this piece. It just takes some time to see the whole picture.

* * *

Roxy stood near the wall looking between Nabu and Musa's shoulders, trying to understand what was going on. Why did Sky call her in and what did she have to do with any of this? The witch rolled her eyes ceiling-ward as Sky gave a basic introduction. She crossed her arms and stared at her shoes while Sky talked.

Even more interesting than the witch was the room that they had just entered. Roxy's eyes wondered around the room. Did that girl just create this room with the computers inside it with magic? The room was silent from the tension but Roxy felt as if she had just entered a basilica and that silence was a golden rule in the room. She stared in amazement at the technology. The computer panel which the witch was leaning glowed from the dozens of buttons on it.

Sky broke the silence. "This is Astrid Stryker." His voice was calm and almost normal, like the one Roxy was accustomed to at the bar, although his face beheld simmering angry.

Bloom was in the corner of the room hiding behind an angry Stella. She looked like she wanted to strangle him but some of the specialists and Winx girls were in her way.

"This better be a good explanation, Sky," Riven said all of a sudden. The red-haired specialist seemed unusually tense with his arms crossed.

Sky froze from being interrupted for a moment but continued on, gesturing to girl behind him, "Okay, let me rephrase this: this is second lieutenant Astrid Stryker of the Eraklyon Air Force and the people that you were working with were part of her squadron. They are _my_ people." He said the last part, especially to Stella.

_Wait!_ Roxy backtracked for a bit. This _girl_, who looked barely older than a fifteen year old and she was a ranked _officer_ in an _army_? The conversation that she had with Riven about immortality and aging came back to her. Maybe she was older than she looked. If that was the case, Roxy was not sure she would like to have that kind immortality. She tried to imagine being thirty or forty years old but stuck in the body of a teenager. She could not imagine it. Roxy left it at that and listened on.

"And let me guess, she's a witch, too?!" Stella accused.

"Will you let me explain?" the blond king shouted at the blond princess.

"No!" she replied childishly. At that, Roxy saw the witch quirk an angry eyebrow at the princess as if she was offended. "How can you stand and let her say those things to Bloom, your fiancée of all people?!" Stella pointed to dark-haired girl as if she were an object but spoke to Sky.

Sky opened his mouth to talk but he was cut off once again.

"My king," Astrid interrupted formally, "May I speak for myself?"

The blond king nodded and stepped aside. He went to lean on the computer panel and brush a hand through his hair as if he were tired.

"Pardon my language," she said mainly to Sky but he waved her off, "But who in the world do you think you are calling me a witch? What is your problem with witches?"

"I don't mean to imply that every single one of you hate witches." Her voice was like acid, subtly implying who hated witches the most. "Some of you are on good terms with them because I know some of you personally but every fucking time some new enemy comes—it's a witch and you all have to go and take him down! Witches have been getting a bad rep because of you people!"

Astrid turned her eye to a certain blond princess huddled protectively over Bloom.

"Even more, I cannot even perform magic without getting bothered! You want me to admit it so you can harass me later for your own little personal entertainment later?! Fine, I'M A _WITCH_!"

Harass? Little personal entertainment? Roxy tried to keep up with the conversation but obviously she was missing quite a few pieces. It sounded like this girl had been bullied or verbally harassed before. Had this girl, who looked like only a teenager, been harassed in school prior to coming to Earth? They had magic schools in the magical dimension. It seemed all too natural that bullying and harassment would exist as well. People were people and people loved to have the upper hand on other people no matter what. Was Bloom's…_accusations_ another verbal attack? Was Astrid the victim?

Bloom was barely conscious of the conversation happening but she caught the last part.

Astrid turned her head to Sky and quite loudly said, "How can you associate yourself with these people, Sky?! They're the very image of _racism_."

* * *

**Latter Note:** There, think about _that_ for a while!


	9. Chapter 9

**Verboten  
Chapter 9**

Monday, June 22, 2009

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Winx Club.

* * *

"I can't believe you called me 'Astrid,'" Asta scoffed, "I can't believe you, Sky. I thought we used to be friends."

"We are—still!"

Sky was seated at the computer panel of the magical reality chamber that Asta had just created. It was not as big or as fancy like the one at Alfea as it was meant for intense combat like the ones at Red Fountain. Asta was leaning on the computer panel beside him.

The Winx Club, Roxy and most of the guys except for Brandon because of his responsibilities towards Sky's safety had gone on home. Night was falling and there were still many things to do before the warehouse was the impenetrable fortress he imagined.

The little spat from earlier was left open-ended after Stella's screeching became unbearable and Sky had told her to take Bloom and go home. He could not stand to see Bloom anymore that day. What shocked and scared him the most was the fact that he had hit Bloom. What was wrong with him? Why could Bloom not just be quiet and let him do the talking? She always had to have to last word and be on top—why?!

The blond king laid his head and closed his eyes for a blissful moment of reprieve and darkness. He wondered how his kingdom was. How were his mother and his father? What was the news on Yoshinoya and his syndicate to overthrow the monarchy? What about his cousin Diaspro? Was she safe from the threat of Yoshinoya? He might have not married her but he still cared enough to make sure that any consequences of his choices did not put her life in danger.

"You're an idiot," she said plainly.

"Can you harp on me about something else, Asta?!" Sky replied angrily. He was just not in the mood to deal with her attitude.

"Fine!—since when were you the kind to hit women?"

Sky straightened up at that question. He did not want to answer that question and remained silent.

"You've never hit Diaspro, Sky. Even when you were angry, you never hit her. What made you start now?" Asta said in a harsh inquisitive voice. She stared at a bit of wall behind Sky. She was pulling out old memories from deep inside him. "You used to be the nastiest guy I knew around at school but you never resorted to physical violence. You might've been uncaring and ignorant of people's little problems but you never hit women. You knew what was right and fair, even though you showed it in an odd way, Sky. I don't know you anymore. You can't just forget your old friends for new ones, Sky. It doesn't work like that."

"But I didn't—!"

"_We_ don't know you anymore, my king."

Sky turned to face his lieutenant, "Asta—!"

With that, a door closed shut and she was gone.

-

It was Monday again and that meant that it was whole new week full of possibilities for people. Ordinary people, that is. Roxy was not one of them anymore. At least, that's what she felt. There was no returning to simple life that she once had at the bar now that she knew that her coworkers were absolutely and explicitly from a different planet—several different planets, too. She was bound to slip up and talk to them about something magical at some point during work in front of her dad. She wished she could tell him but would that make him safer or only endanger him even more? And what would he think of her new friends and coworkers? She was sure that he would have a heart attack.

It was mid morning and Roxy was putting away the dishes while the guys served customers. Not so surprisingly, Sky was not there but Brandon was. She assumed that the girls had opened up their shop as well. Love&Pet and their set of exotic _magical_ pixie pets was this whole new phase that seemed to make the town livelier again and even Roxy had fallen for the trend. She had four pixie pets and counting!

She wondered: how was Bloom? Being slapped must not have been easy to take, especially from your own fiancée. She hoped to never know.

And what about Brandon?! How was he? It must not be easy to get back on your feet when you throw yourself in front of your girlfriend's line of attack.

And Stella?! What about her?

And…and…who is Diaspro?

Or the Trix?

What was that Asta chick's problem? Where the hell had she come from with those accusations?

Roxy let go of her breath as soon as she realized that she was holding it tensely. There were too many questions with not enough answers. The answers would come in time, she hoped. Right now, she had to focus on putting away more dishes.

Business was coming in slowly at the moment and so Roxy did not worry too much but what had happened yesterday plagued her mind terribly. It must have shown on her face very much because Helia came to ask her. He sat on a stool at the bar area. Roxy had her back to him as she placed glasses on the shelves.

"Something wrong?"

Roxy jumped and yelled, "Omigod!" She almost dropped the slippery glass in her hand but caught it before it fell. She placed the glass on a table and turned, her heart going a hundred miles an hour. "Don't—ever—do—that!"

"Sorry," Helia gave a slight smile as he could not help but enjoy her reaction, "What's on your mind now, Roxy?" He gave a friendly smile and flicked his pen for taking orders in his hand.

Roxy threw her dish rag on the counter, "What are you?! My psychiatrist?!"

"I've studied and written papers on psychological warfare if it makes you feel any better." For some reason, it felt like he was joking, like he knew what he just said would not help her at all but she was not sure. At the same time, she felt like he was telling the truth about the psychological warfare. That sounded like some heavy stuff.

"Whaa?—Is that all you guys think about? War and combat?! What kind of school did you go to?! Unbelievable!" She waved her hands about her to show her disbelief.

Putout by her response, Helia answered, "Okay, fine. I have a minor in psychology. Happy?" He sounded slightly childish. He had obviously been egging her on.

"Seriously, what do you study at that school of yours?" She attempted to put the glasses away.

In a straight voice, he said, "I study what I need to excel in my field of work." That answer sounded awfully evasive. That could have meant a lot of things. Roxy knew that he had a certain amount of skill in the martial arts, gymnastics and escape tricks but what did that all amount to? His main weapon was barely a weapon: laser string gloves with the occasional taser gun function.

The first thing that came to mind was some sort of bounty hunter but that came from playing one too many video games. Roxy probed further, "What kind of work?"

Well, what kind of work was there for a mercenary in the magical dimension? Even though the boys minus Nabu called themselves specialists, Roxy thought of them as more as mercenaries upon finding out that they got paid for some missions.

She watched him carefully. She looked for any signs that might betray the answer. He had straightened up and his cheerful smile was gone. His hair was pulled up into a ponytail again for work-related reasons and she could see his whole face. His lips were in a tight line and his stare was unerring. He had changed from warm and social to stone cold.

Roxy saw the bar around Helia in startling clarity as if time had stopped and everything that was happening seemed inconsequential. His sapphire eyes were powdery blue compared to at night when they were like blackish blue. How had she never noticed that his pupils were not completely round like everyone else's? They had a slight soft oval shape threatening on being diamonds. He looked…sad.

"That's for me to know, Roxy, and for you to never hopefully find out." He gave a dangerous smile.

"But why?!" she whined.

"Drop it, Roxy," the artist said in a deadpan voice.

"But—!"

"_Drop it_." Helia voice quietly resonated, like a myriad of lyrical voices in one saying the same thing. Roxy thought that she felt the ground tremble under her feet as he said those words.

In all seriousness, she did not continue the subject anymore and promptly went back to putting away the glasses. It was a few moments later before Roxy turned around to see Helia was still at his same spot. He was so childishly moody sometimes. Half the time it looked like an act but sometimes, she felt like it was real.

She had another question, "Helia…" She was not sure if he was the right person to ask, "What happened yesterday?"

"What do you mean?"

"Who's Asta? And why did Bloom call Asta, um, a witch?"

Helia quirked an eyebrow as if he did not believe her. "Ah, so they didn't tell you?"

"Who didn't tell me what?"

"Did any of the girls tell you about the Trix, Darkar or Valtor?"

"The Trix? Dar…kar?"

"So they didn't then." He looked around the bar at the amount of customers, "I've got time to kill. I'll tell you what happened." Helia looked extremely happy to tell the story like he wanted to corrupt her mind. "It was the stuff of nightmares. Everything was in chaos! It all started when Bloom's home planet of Sparks was attacked by the Three Ancestral Witches…"

-

It literally sounded like the stuff of nightmares and it wreaked havoc on Roxy's mind as she tried to focus doing her chores at home. She had gotten off work after lunch and needed to clean the house for the all of Artu and the pixie pets' hair. She was vacuuming the living room when it all became too much for to think about. She turned off the vacuum and sat on couch wearily.

How did a group of sixteen year olds plus on seventeen year old defeat an army of monsters and three then super powerful witches? Roxy looked at her hands for the answers. She could not imagine herself doing that at all. She would probably wimp out at the idea of having the weight of the world on her shoulders. She was brave, but not that brave. Or the way they fought off Darkar's monsters was frightening. She could not imagine someone so evil could do such things. Darkar was officially tied with Adolf Hitler on her list.

The way Helia wove his words about how they stormed Darkar's castle sounded like a true horror story. He did not spare her the gory detail of how they severed monsters in half and he seemed to truly enjoy her reactions as he described the bone-crunching, stomach-churning detail when he almost dislocated his arm trying to reel Sky's fighter ship by pulling it into the hangar bay while in flight. She felt like barfing at the idea (even though, inside she knew he was exaggerating a little—she hoped). Ewww.

Roxy ran a hand through her hair and looked at the forgotten vacuum. There was no way she could finish her chores and with details of gore stuck in her mind. She knew though that she needed to finish her chores but how?

Magic.

Of course.

Roxy perked up at the idea of going through the book and ran for her room to retrieve it. She blasted through her bedroom door, scaring her pixie pets at the same time, and dove under her bed where she hid it from her father. (Worst case scenarios about her father finding the book and screaming "Witch!" at always came to mind.) She flipped through the pages, skimming over descriptions of charms. She came to a halt on one particular spell in the first chapter of the book.

It was an extremely basic charm termed as one of the basic functions in magic almost bordering a command rather than a real spell. It was called the 'Move Function.' Roxy felt like she was going back to computer class as she read the basic description. Her pixie pets hovered over her shoulder curiously as she read and walked back down to the living room.

She closed the book firmly in her hand and stared at the vacuum, determined to make it work. She focused her mind, imagining it moving forward.

"I can do this. I am a fairy." She pointed at the vacuum, "_Moven!_"

The vacuum glowed neon green for moment but turned back to normal. Nothing happened for several moments and she tried again with more force in her voice.

"_Moven!_"

It glowed green again and moved several inches forward, slowly picking up the pace. It bumped into the wall.

"Yes! It worked!" she congratulated herself. She went to turn on the vacuum which made the pixie pets flutter away scared.

Artu stared at his owner for a moment on his chaise and went back to napping. The pixie pets were sniffing and flying around the vacuum handle.

Ten minutes passed before Roxy got the hang of it and learned to steer it with her mind. She figured that as long as it was in sight and focused on it, the spell would work. It was another ten minutes before realize that the phone was ringing. She looked at the vacuum cautiously before she left the room to go get the phone. It was Dad.

"Dear, how are things at home?" he asked worriedly. He was just checking on her.

"It's great, Dad. I'm fine, really. I wish that you would stop calling on me so often," she whined.

"Well, okay. Roxy, did you vacuum the house?"

"I'm doing it _now_, Dad!" Roxy could still hear the vacuum running in the other room. That sounded like a good sign.

"Well, okay. I'll be home late, okay? 'Love you."

"'Love you, too!"

Roxy put the phone back on the receiver and went to go check on her vacuum. She found it still moving but this time on the ceiling going on its merry way. She freaked out.

* * *

**Latter Note:** Yes, well, a lot happened in this chapter, huh? Sky has apparently traded in his old friends for new ones and Helia has a way with words when it comes to horror stories. And Roxy found the vacuum on the ceiling? Oh dear.


	10. Chapter 10 Dream and Destiny

**Verboten  
Chapter 10**

Saturday, June 27, 2009

**Disclaimer: **I do not own.

* * *

Roxy plopped herself down on her bed as soon as she was sure that the vacuum was safe and _normal_. It had not been that bad but the difficult part had been getting it off the ceiling. Now, she just did not want to even think about it. The new fairy had already showered and was ready for bed although it was fairly early. She idly laid in bed, a restless energy inside of her. It felt like one of those moments where she wanted to be with the girls in their pet store or with the guys in the bar just for the company. She felt terribly lonely.

Artu was a great companion but there were days where she had someone to talk to at home like a brother or sister. She wished that she had one of those. Roxy had changed a lot in the past few weeks. She had gotten more _human_ friends rather than animal ones but at the same time, she felt like she got farther and farther away from regular people like the customers at the bar. Was this right? She wished that someone could tell her how it was supposed to work. She bet Harry Potter never had to go through all of this. He was a fictional character after all.

She wished she had someone to confine all her secrets to. Like maybe a mom. She deeply wished she had a constant one. Her dad had never really told her about her real mom and coincidentally, he did not have any pictures of her. When she was young, Roxy never questioned why he did not have any but as she got older, those questions plagued her badly especially when it came to family tree projects at school.

It was after she had finished Mark Haddon's _The Curious Case of the Dog in the Night-time_ in the beginning of high school that she really started worry about her mother. Her real mother. At the time, her father had been going out with someone but it had never worked out in the end. In _The Curious Case of the Dog in the Night-time_, the autistic protagonist Christopher Boone had been told by his father that his mother had died at young age to find out later that his father had lied and his mother was alive. She wondered, had her father done something like that to her except she did not catch on? Was her mother out there somewhere?

A golden brown kitten jumped onto her bed and she could see Artu go to rest on his favorite pillow in the corner. The kitten sniffed her curiously. Roxy smiled at the stray. "I wonder, who do you belong to, little kitten?" Roxy said aloud.

The phone rung again and Roxy dashed across her room for it on the bookshelf.

"Hello?"

"Just checking up, dear." It was her dad. "Is everything okay in the house? Did you lock the door and close all the windows?"

"Yes, yes, yes! I did all of that, Dad! I know what to do."

"Okay, just making sure…" There was a tired sigh heard between the booming music on the other end, "Good night, kiddo. I'll be coming home late, okay? Around one."

"G'night," Roxy said in a rather worried tone, "Dad, are you okay?"

It was times like this that Roxy had to remember that her father was rather old.

"I'm fine, Roxy. The bar's great and your friends Brandon, Nabu and Riven are doing me a favour kicking out all the drunken hooligans. Saves my back." On the other end, there was a loud crash and Roxy cringed. It sounded awfully close.

"I'm sorry! I find it out to believe that you're at least sixteen years old! Show me your ID or get out of the bar before I call the cops!" Roxy could hear Brandon threaten. (1)

"Sorry, dear. I have to go. I love you. G'night."

"I love you, too. Night, dad."

With that, he hung up. Roxy hung the phone on the receiver and rubbed her eyes tiredly.

-

"I was really scared, you know. Thank God, the Winx were there with us," Roxy said to the purring kitten. She was recounting what had happened in the battle after the Winx Club had gotten their believix. Inwardly, she still felt it was unfair. She was on the floor looking at her old photo album with fluffy pillow tucked under her. She was going through her old childhood photos.

At the moment, she was going through some where she and Klaus were at a horse ranch. There was one in particular that caught her eye. A five year old version of herself was riding a shaggy haired pony and her father watching her. Her father was much leaner and fitter in that picture.

She missed those days back when he was able to lift her above him. She sighed wistfully.

"I remember this one," she looked at one picture and went on to the next, "But I barely remember this one. Why can't I remember them?" she said in a hushed tone. "I wish I could least dream about this tonight. It would be nice." She yawned.

'_Why do these memories hide from me? I know that I've changed but why am I so afraid?_' She turned to another page, '_Am I afraid of what I'll become? What will I lose if I change?_' An image of her father came to mind. '_No, I will not lose him. And that voice in my dreams… I've heard it before. I know I have but it feels like this is the first time I heard it._' Roxy closed the book and rested her head on it. She closed her eyes even though she did not want to sleep yet. Sleep came quickly. (2)

-

It was nighttime on the docks. Everything was still but the sound of the tide crash hurling itself against the cement pier could still be heard. There were dozens of warehouses on the pier but one in particular was still fully functional. In Sky's private warehouse, most of the lights had been turned off and even the emergency ones were dimmed slightly. On the left side of the warehouse was a yellow domed shape. That was the newly created magical reality chamber that everyone was eager to test out. It was accompanied by a closed in area—weapons depot—and mat area with a trampoline and an array of other exercise equipment. On the right side of the warehouse was the residential area with a fully functional kitchen, bathroom and sleeping area. Its main highlight was the titanium kitchen and long dinner table. The bunk beds, after they had been built, were walled off for privacy.

There were half a dozen people still awake mostly working on the supercomputer. Asta was one of them but she was not working on the computer. She was supposed to be sleeping but a curious thought had kept her up. She paced around the kitchen in her pajamas.

"Pure breeds of any race were often prone to having uncommon abilities simply because of clean genetics," Asta wondered aloud. Pure breeds were often also better than interbreeds because of this such as a fairy being better than half fairy, half elf. "Roxy is the last true Earth-born fairy of Earth. All the magic was stolen by the Black Circle more than a thousand years ago."

Fairies and magical creatures alike disappeared during the Arthurian ages, meaning about the turn of the first millenium. Barring the fact that Roxy might have traces of non-magical human DNA in her making her a half-breed tainted repeatedly by humans, she still could quite possibly have pure fairy heritage in her. "Meaning that Roxy _is_ a half pure breed fairy."

Asta stopped pacing and held her breath. She was on to something important.

-

Black. It was dark and all she saw was black. Roxy found herself standing inside some type of darkness. It was chilly and she crossed her arms. She found that she could she hands as if it was bright as day in sharp contrast to the darkness. She looked down to herself in a strange outfit that she would have never matched in a million years. No wonder she had goose bumps on her legs.

She found herself to be wearing bright green ruffled short shorts with an even greener sash about her hips. There was sheer square fabric hanging from the belt buckle. She saw a turquoise one shoulder t-shirt with the sleeve reaching to her left elbow. A couple of purple pink straps reached over her other bare shoulder, seeming to keep her top up and straight. Then there was this strange green arm warmer on her right arm that felt awkward but comforting somehow. What freaked her out the most was the pair of green heels she was wearing. (3)

She would have never definitely matched such an outfit, let alone buy any of these pieces—except for maybe the arm warmer and belt.

Then she was falling as if the supposed ground under her feet had been taken away. She felt wind rush passed her, ruffling her hair and getting into her face. She wanted to scream! She wanted to curl her body into a ball but instead, she found herself unfolding flat as an ironing board diving straight for whatever the hell she was diving at. There was a bright flash that destroyed the darkness. It was so bright that Roxy had to close her eyes use her arms to shield away the glare. She still kept falling but when the white light had subsided, she found herself diving straight for hilly field with rows of plants. She was still high in the sky and the ground below her was looked like a farming plot that reached on for miles from her angle.

The fear in her was gone. For some reason, she expected her heart to be racing but she found the pull of gravity relaxing. She felt a smile at her cheeks as the wide rushed passed her and ground became closer and closer. She felt weightless and carefree as if nothing was bothering her. Reckless would be the word.

She twirled herself around in the air in all directions to get a view of the place. Her eyes widened as she saw what was behind her with her peripheral. She had fairy wings! Heart-shaped purple and green fairy wings that glittered like jewels. She flapped them experimentally and found that she had control over them.

She stopped her descent and swirled around in the air gleefully. She screamed "Whoo-hoo!" as she did steep dives and climbs.

Finally, she dived headfirst towards the ground. She did not know why nor did she care very much. Out of nowhere, a black spot rushed passed her narrowly missing her and pushing her out of the way at the same time. Confused, she looked for the thing that had passed her and found it to flying just below her and faster too.

She smiled and felt herself loosen the muscle attached to her wings so that they fell back to lay against her body like a ladybug's and then she was falling faster to catch up with the mysterious black object. She found it to be another person. That person turned around to see her. She felt as if that person was smiling at her.

It was guy and he wore dark pants and no shirt and that's all she saw of his front before he turned back around to continue his dive. There were black curved shapes on his back and the shapes started to unfold in dark arcs that meant they were wings. Surprising Roxy, he pulled up sharply and was suddenly flying over the field.

Quickly and clumsily, Roxy followed suit and pulled up hard and tried to follow the other man for some unknown reason. She looked below at the field. It was rows and rows of grape orchards. Ahead, the man was still flying. She could see the end of the grape orchard and the beginning of a forest. They slowed down just before the tree line where there was a large up boulder that looked out of place. The man landed on the precarious top and folded his wings. He sat down on the rock with his feet dangling. Roxy finally saw his face as she came to halt and floated. He had short black hair and an unreadable expression.

He pointed to something behind her and she turned to see what it was. A warm breeze hit her as turned and came faced with a sun setting over an ocean horizon. The water and sky were a deep dark blue reflecting each other. She found herself to be standing on a small red circle that was fairly high off the ground. A metal roof. Below she could make familiar landmarks like the bridge to Gardenia, the beach, the bar and even the wharf. The view was simply amazing. She had never imagined her home from such a view.

She looked down to see her clothes. She now wore a pair of cut jean shorts that went to her knees and basketball jersey with worn shoess. Someone poked her on the shoulder and she turned rapidly to suddenly find herself in someone's embrace. It was comforting. She could not see the person but it was comforting. She was then pushed away roughly and feared that she would fall off the small roof. She tried to grab whoever had pushed her.

That person held onto her by just her hand pulled her back to step into a dizzying waltz in a large gold and red candle-lit room. There were a dozen other people around her dancing the same waltz in a synchronized fashion. She could not see who she was dancing with nor could she recognize him but she could see the other dancers around her. She saw a quite a few members of the Winx and some of the guys interspersed with strangers that she felt that she would know. She saw Sky and craned her head to see if he was dancing with Bloom. It was a red-haired woman but not quite the same shade as Bloom's. Music was played by an orchestra and the room was lined with table laden with food.

Roxy felt herself be dragged away by her wrist and out of the circle of dancers towards a set of glass doors that led to a garden. She looked behind at the receding ballroom and got a steep view of a gold and red castle. They were on a white marble veranda of sorts and Roxy heels made a sharp _tap-tap-tap_. It was night time and the sky was clear of clouds, letting the moon shine through. It was luminescent guiding light.

Bewildered, she looked forward to see who was pulling her away. The person brought her to sit on a stone bench. Roxy played with her sheer gloves and white pearls adorning her light blue gown. She felt nervous and looked to the formally dressed person beside her.

"_Roxy, are you willing to accept change?_" her company had a deep but strange voice like a myriad of voices behind one.

She opened her mouth to respond but was not sure of her answer.

"_Are you, Roxy?_"

She whispered, "What do you mean?"

"_You are going to change, Roxy. Change a lot._"

"How?"

"_You will change whether you like it or not. Can you accept it?_"

"I...I don't know."

"_Destiny has many plans for you_."

"What if I don't want to change?"

Her company was silent, "_Many will die. You will change, Roxy. It's a matter of accepting the change and what you will do in the end. If you choose right, you might be able to come back to your life on Earth but right now, the universe needs you._"

* * *

**Latter Note:** There's a lot to comment here. I don't know where to start but obviously, the plot thickens.

Roxy experimenting with magic; Asta getting curious; Roxy wondering about her mom; Roxy worrying about her dad; Brandon kick customers asses; the universe apparently needing Roxy's help... That's a lot of Roxy.

1) There is no legal drinking age in Italy. However, there is a legal purchasing age meaning that you must be sixteen years old to purchase alcohol at a store or in a bar. I would assume universally that establishments reserve the right to ask for ID.

2) For those who have seen the Italian episodes, this is my version of the end of episode eight (_Winx Believix_). I made it so that it fits with my interpretation of the story. Plus, it's a lot more interesting.

3) I'm referring to certain outfit in the show. You know which one it is. ;)


	11. Chapter 11

**Verboten  
Chapter 11**

Thursday, August 13, 2009

**Disclaimer:** I do not own.

**Fore Note:** Hey! Another chapter! I thought that I would never write another chapter!

* * *

Despite the insane situation of everything, Roxy could think clearly. On the back burner of her mind, she was wondering how it was possible for her to think clearly anyways but did not look into it deeply. Her satin light blue dress seemed extremely interesting compared to the conversation she was having.

It was night and the air was chilly but that did not distract Roxy from what was important. Her partner and she sat on a stone bench overlooking a grand garden. Behind her was some epically large gold and red castle that probably would have never been found on Earth and apparently, she had just waltzed in the center of ballroom with some stranger who seemed to be asking questions that bordered epiphanies.

Her life had changed a lot ever since she met the Winx Club. Even more when Sky showed them his contingency plan at the warehouse. It just showed how many people were willing to risk their lives for her one puny and not exactly notable life. Roxy had never considered herself an overachiever or an underachiever. As long as she got fairly good grades and could understand what she was learning, she was happy. All she wanted to do as soon as she got out of school was take a year off to work and save money and then maybe go to college to become whatever she thought she was good at. Her original dream had been veterinarian but that dream seemed so far now that her life was constantly in danger.

Change.

That was the key to everything.

She had seen a great deal of it in the pass few weeks. Not all of it affected her but it did trouble her deeply.

Meeting Princess Stella was something she was not all too happy about. Key word being 'princess.' It just seemed wrong that Roxy was associating herself with the intergalactic princess of fashion. She did not want to be seen with such nicely dressed people. She wanted normal people like Dad or Andy or Jenny who had normal dreams, normal lives and wore normal clothes. She and Stella had started on the wrong foot anyways but from one look, if Roxy could avoid her, she would. The fashion princess was just too bright, too loud, too happy. Roxy hated how Stella's life seemed like a fairytale. It was just wrong. She wanted to scream, "Life did not always end with a happily ever after!"

Why was her life so important? What was so special about her? Why did being the last fairy from Earth matter so much? She had a destiny but what was it? Was she pawn in some chessboard-like battle of the will of the gods? Most of all, why would she need to change? Was there something wrong with her?

"_Will you accept your changes?_"

"What if I don't want to save the universe?" Roxy evaded.

A throaty laugh. Roxy cringed. "You_ don't need to save the universe. Someone else will do it. All we need to know is that you are willing to change. That is all we ask of you._"

"Who is 'we'?"

-

There was an hour left until the Love & Pet shop closed and the Winx Club was slowly starting to tidy up and put the pets back in their playpens for the night. Bloom was at the accessories stand refilling empty shelves with new items with Kiko's help. Bloom, kneeling, sighed wearily and Kiko gave a concerned look. What was wrong with her? The events of yesterday in the warehouse haunted her mind.

Astrid called her racist. Bloom had never considered herself racist—never. The first image that came to Bloom's mind was Layla because she was black (by Earth's standards).

Bloom had never seen the conflict between fairies as witches as a racial one. She just thought it was a conflict of interest but Bloom had to admit, she could see the dividing line between witches and fairies. Fairies are born with wings roots on their shoulder bones signifying that he or she was meant to fly. Witches are not. If she got down to it, she could see the pros and cons of having or not having wings. If you had wings, it was easier to escape from a nasty situation but it also would mean that you grew cripplingly dependent on them if you ever broke one of them. If you did not have wings, there was no worry of breaking or clipping wings but it also would mean that you would have to adapt to other ways of survival.

How many people had been hurt by this thought? How many witches have been hurt because of this conflict?

Symbolically, since the multiple defeats of the Trix, witches have been getting treated badly. Especially those of Cloud Tower. What did that tell about the Winx Club from a public view? That they were nasty witch-haters as Asta said?

Bloom did not know what to think and therefore tried to concentrate on something else as she opened another box with a knife.

What had happened to Sky? Normally, righteous anger would have overtaken her but since it was her fiancé, it was different. Why did he slap her? Was it because she would not listen to him? He had seemed so angry and frustrated with her. She never thought that she could do that to him nor did she think that he would ever react so violently. Where was her gentle and loving Sky?

The Sparks princess had not seen him since yesterday and had not even left the shop once today. Would she ever see her Sky again? She wanted explanations but she was not sure she would like the answers. Ever since they had found Roxy, Sky priorities seemed to be in a new order that included Bloom somewhere near the bottom. She did not mind not being at the top but she still hoped she was important enough to him if he wanted to marry her.

She would never know if she never did something.

"I'm going to call Sky," Bloom said in a low voice that only Kiko could hear. She scratched the area behind his hears and he turned into a puddle of goo in her hands seemingly unaware of what she meant.

Bloom's cell phone rang loudly, throwing her off her train of thought. She dropped Kiko on her lap and fished her phone out without checking the caller ID.

"Yes, hello?"

"Bloom, it's Sky. I want to talk to you."

"What…?"

Sky sighed on his end, "I want to talk to you."

"When? _Now_?!" Bloom screeched in a high-pitched voice that got everyone's attention. Her heart raced at the suddenness of his request.

"Yes, _now_, Bloom! What else?!" he sounded irritated.

"What do you mean?"

"Bloom, I don't have time to waste!" Sky's voice was harsh and angry. "It's either yes or no. If it's yes, meet me at the park in front the loft asap tonight. If it's no, don't even bother coming. I'll be there 'til eight and after that, I'm gone."

"Y-yes, I'll come!" Bloom spurted.

Her shoulders were hunched. He was mad again. Bloom had her back to all the other girls and they were curious as to what was going on.

"Good…" His voice was strained. She could hear Sky take deep breathe like he was tired. "And…I'm sorry."

Bloom wanted to say something. Something comforting but she did not know what. Her mouth was left wide open, trying to come up with a response. At that, Stella snatched the phone from Bloom's ear.

"Listen up, Sky! Bloom is not a servant! You can't order her around and treat her how you want to. What d'ya mean it's none of my business?! She's a person too and has gone through a whole lot more than you ever will—no, you shut up, you bastard! How dare you call me that?! _Shut up, shut up, shut up!_ Brandon loves me for I am! Fuck off, Sky! I'm not listening to this!" Stella turned off the phone and grasped it tightly in hand, "_Asshole!_" she screamed at the phone. Traces of tears could be seen forming at the corner of her eyes.

Tecna promptly plucked the phone away from Stella's hand and gave a stern look to the Solarian princess. "Are you ever going to grow up, Stella? You have to learn to not get so emotional." Stella wanted to retort but she pouted instead.

Tecna squatted down to Bloom's level and handed her the phone. Her voice took on a serious but concerned tone. "What did he say?" she interrogated gently.

"I have to meet him at the park before eight. He wants to talk."

Tecna checked her watch, "Well then, you better get going. You have forty minutes to get there." The technology handed back the phone to Bloom. "You better take your bicycle and hurry. Go. We can take care of the rest of the shop."

Bloom nodded and took her phone. She hurried into the backroom with wheeled her old bike out the backdoor of the shop.

"Now, _you_," Tecna turned to Stella with her hands on her hips, "You may be Bloom's best friend ever since you found her here on Earth but you are not her mother, Stella. Bloom is engaged to _Sky_ and _they_ have to work out _their_ problems for _themselves_. We will only make things worst for them if we keep intervening. Let's get back to work."

-

"Sky?" His name in a quick, almost too quick to hear squeak.

The blond king of Eraklyon sat on a park bench in deep thought when he turned his head to see Bloom walking her bike down the path. She was clearly out of breath and looked to be holding on to her bike for dear life. She was still in her work clothes—her jogging sweater and shorts with sneakers and leg warmers—but she looked like she was freezing. Concerned, Sky got up help her by holding her bike and walking her to the bench. No words were exchanged yet.

He leaned her bike against the back of the bench while she took a seat. He joined her but there was small uncomfortable space between them.

"So?"

Bloom whipped her head to Sky. _He was starting the talking?_

"I'm sorry about hitting you," he said while staring at the sky. There were days when he wished that the answers were up there in the stars but he knew the truth of reality and how the universe was created; big-bang theory and all.

"That's _it_?" Bloom asked. That was short. Way too short. She felt kind of well…not necessarily cheated but it was not the apology she wanted.

"You want me to get on knees and start tearing up? It's not going to happen, Bloom." He gave her sardonic look. "I don't have time to waste constantly over you. I may not look it but I have a lot of things going on in my head right now."

"Well, why'd d'you hit me in the first place if you're not going to apologize properly?! I have lots of problems of my own to deal with! I just found my real parents a few months ago and I barely got to see them since they're reconstructing the kingdom—!"

"Don't start with this again!" Sky stood up, "You can't hide behind your parents every time. I admit that me hitting you was wrong but don't expect to grovel at your feet for forgiveness. I can't be easily tricked into guilt anymore!" Sky said flatly. "I hit you because you wouldn't shut it when I tried to defend you from Asta. All of that could have been avoided if you had listened to me!"

Bloom leveled with him and stood up as well, "You didn't say anything to me!"

"It a little more than evident when I said 'Bloom, you're not helping your case!' I don't need to explicitly say 'shut up' for you to understand to be quiet, do I?!" Sky yelled angrily. "Damnit Bloom! You should know how to act for someone of your station! Especially after graduating Alfea! You can't go picking fights with whoever it damn well pleases you now! You have to think about Sparks!" he said incredulously.

Bloom's face hardened at the thought that Sky thought he knew better than her. "Don't you dare talk to me about _my people_! I _know_ how to act!"

"Than does the imperial princess of Sparks pick fights with middle-class citizens just because their magical aura offended them?!" he reprimanded, "You're lucky there's no magical being within a one hundred light-year radius or else the press would be on our ass for this! Imagine if the public caught whiff of this or my parents or even _yours_?! How do you think Oritel and Miriam would feel about their only living daughter was acting so stupidly?!"

"I'm not stupid, Sky!" Bloom's hands curled into fists at her sides as she listen to all of Sky's accusation. Deep inside, she knew he was right. She tried to contain the sparks of flame that were hidden in her fists. She did not want to hurt him despite her desire to. She did not want to hear about her mistakes from him. Her heart was pounding and blood rushed through her as something innate cried for battle.

"_Gee, really?!_"

That had been final stroke. Bloom let out a battle cry and gathered her hands before her to unleash a sizeable fireball at Sky.

-

"_Who we are is something you'll find out soon enough,_" the voice spoke with clarity, "_But it is better that you don't know yet. You will accept your changes?_" the voice tried again.

Roxy bit her lip. That confirmed that this was not a dream or else the pain would woken her up, she reasoned. "Will it hurt?" she asked childishly.

"_You'll barely notice it._"

"And the people who would die?"

"_They'll live._"

Roxy breathed a sigh of relief. It all seemed simple. Say yes and everything would fine. Say no and it would not be. Still, she needed to know more.

"What happens after this?"

"_You'll wake up_."

"But after that?"

"_That is up to you. Joining the Black Circle is always an option. If that's what you decide to do, we can't stop you. We're only a voice in your head. You make your own choices, Roxy._"

"Am I supposed to join them?!"

"_If you want to. We would prefer it if you didn't though,_" her companion said with evident sarcasm. "_We have nothing against them. Will you accept your changes?_"

"Wait! Who is the enemy?! Isn't it the Black Circle?!"

The lyrical voice laughed, berating her. "_It's up to you to pick your friends and enemies. We'll tell you this though: the Black Circle is not the one we are fighting. However, they do pose a hindrance if they capture you._"

"Then who is the enemy?!"

"_You'll find out soon enough, Roxy. Will you accept your changes?_"

"Can I at least have a name?!" Roxy shouted.

Her companion paused for a moment in thought. "_Diana,_" the voice threw at her nonchalantly, "_Will you accept your changes?_"

"Your time is growing short," someone interrupted. Roxy jumped at the appearance of a man who walked out of the garden towards them. He had long shock white hair, wore a bird-like mask and black robes. The man was obviously talking to her faceless companion.

"_Very well…will you accept your changes, Roxy?_" the voice asked for the last time.

Roxy, pressured by the essence of time and appearance of the new man, stuttered, "Y-yes…?"

"Good." Her companion stood up to walk down to the garden to the masked man and passed him. The new arrival did not move for quite a while, as if staring at Roxy. Then he turned.

"By the way, tell your friend Bloom to hold her tongue. It might get her in trouble one day," the masked man said over his shoulders.

And then there was darkness again.

* * *

**Latter Note:** This only leaves you with more questions doesn't it, huh? And what kind of name is 'Diana'?! And oh, let's not forget the fireball that Bloom threw at Sky!

Oh, by the way, technically, our galaxy—that is to say, the Milky Way—is about 100,000 light-years in diameter. Sky only said 100 ly for radius—approximately, 200 ly in diameter. The galaxy is huge, isn't it?


	12. Chapter 12

**Verboten  
****Chapter 12**

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Winx Club.

**Fore Note:** Omigod, did I really have Bloom throw a fireball at Sky?!

* * *

One thing lead to another and suddenly, a fireball flew out of Bloom's hands towards Sky.

"_SKY!_" Bloom screamed into the night sky as she realized what she had done. Her hands flew to her mouth and she collapsed to her knees.

A bright red beach ball-sized fireball floated in the air just before Sky, partially obscuring him. The ember flickered but did not move. Sky's face glowed from the fire before him. He wore an unreadable expression that did not speak of angry but disappointment. What mattered most was that he was not charred to a crisp yet.

The air around him was obscured by the heat radiated from the ball of hot energy and Bloom sat shock still as she tried to comprehend what was going on.

Defying everything that Bloom knew about Sky, Sky raised one hand to his side holding the raging fire in his hand as easily like he was showing it to her. He approached her in three strides.

"You know, Bloom," he stared down at her with her fireball still in his hand, "I've broken a lot of promises just to be with you but _this_," he glanced to the fireball in his hand, "And the way you act these days is completely unacceptable behavior for my future wife and queen. More importantly, my _wife_. I'm very close breaking my engagement with you because of this. I don't want to because I love you too much and…" he sounded as if he wanted to say more. "I don't want to lose you because I lost my cool."

The fire in his hand burned out and left only the smell of burning cloth. Bloom noticed that he had a pair of fingerless work gloves that he used usually when he was working with dragons because they were fireproof. Inside, she was relieved that he had brought those gloves with him. Why he had them eluded her.

"I'm sorry but I can't talk to you anymore tonight if you're ready to throw fireballs at me. Go back to the store and sleep. I will talk to you another time," he said coolly and turned and began to walk away, leaving her there on the ground.

-

Roxy woke up with a start, her breathe shallow and her heart going a trillion miles a second. She rubbed her face with a hand and found it moist with sweat and quickly wiped it on her shirt realizing that she had fallen asleep on the floor with her photo album as a pillow. First thing she did was check the time on her digital clock. It was only 9:11! She had only fallen asleep for about an hour and yet she felt so tired. Sore and deeply confused about her recent dream, Roxy sat up and looked about her. Her room light was still lit and Artu was in his usual corner dozing on his favourite doggie pillow. He had not stirred.

She took deep breathes and thought carefully. What had just happened? Her dream was too real and she could quite clearly remember the conversation had just had as if she had been awake. Were people not supposed to remember what happened in their dreams when they woke up? A cold wind passed her making her shiver violently. She got up to her window and realized slowly that her window was not even open.

"Ughhh!" Roxy groaned and leaned her forehead against the glass to stare out into the neighborhood. Everything was dark and there were only the lights from people's windows and streetlamps. A couple of rowdy teenagers passed down the street, obviously oblivious to Roxy's dilemma.

She thought that she might as well go back to sleep. The new fairy turned to pick up her photo album off the floor when several pictures fell out of its pages. Sighing, Roxy picked those up to, took note of which ones they were and tried to slip them back into the book to only have an icy cold chill envelop her hand and force her to drop the pictures. The pictures flew in the air as if in some synchronized aerial ballet and landed all faced up on the floor. She tried to pick them up again to only have her hand freeze over and drop them again.

Oh, come on! She was not _that_ clumsy!

She did several more times to pick the pictures with the same result and started to notice something. The pictures always fell in the same order... Roxy stopped her hand and took note of the pictures. They were pictures of her father and her at the horse ranch they used to visit when she was little. Something felt terribly wrong. A cold wind surrounded her making her drop the album and pushed her unto her bed.

Something was definitely wrong. She looked to her window and found it close yet the chill remained.

Pieces of the conversation that she had in her dream drifted through her mind as she tried to understand what was going on. "_That is up to you._" "_Roxy, are you willing to accept change?_" "_Joining the Black Circle is always an option._" "_You make your own choices, Roxy._" "_By the way, tell your friend Bloom to hold her tongue_."

The girls!

Roxy fumbled for her phone as she speed-dialed the Winx! As soon as Roxy explained what had happened, she found herself to be trembling. She pulled a pillow to her chest for comfort. Roxy nervously counted the minutes on her clock as she waited.

Eleven minutes later, the girls came rushing into her room through the window and found her trembling visibly. Roxy got up but Bloom quickly sat her back down on her bed to interrogate her. Roxy got a good look at the red-head's face and realized that she had been crying. Her eyes were bright and puffy and there was slight sniffle in her tone.

Roxy tried to describe to them what had happened in her dream and then with the pictures. She explained how the voices sounded so familiar yet so distant but made sure not mention the appearance of Sky in the ballroom. Roxy only got more freaked out when Stella threw the pictures back into the air to land in the same positions.

"This can't be coincidence," Bloom said kneeling at the pictures. "Roxy, what do you know about the place in these pictures?"

"It's in the country and I used to go horseback riding my parents when I was a kid. All I remember now that it was so nice and pretty. There was this huge meadow where we had picnics and…and…well, that's it."

"Obviously, there's something going on with these pictures and your dreams." Bloom noted but there was a sad pitiful note in her voice. "Something is going on at this place and we're going to have to check it out, it seems. Right?"

Everyone agreed enthusiastically.

"Let's talk about this in the morning, though," Tecna suggested wearily. "It's too late to go adventuring into unknown places in the middle of the night."

They all agreed.

-

The skies were cleared of clouds and the sun shone with pride upon Gardenia as Timmy drove an RV (borrowed from his company that he worked at) to the front of the Love&Pet shop. It had been two days since Roxy had called the girls and yesterday was all about finding out what had happened and planning the trip (including supplies, maps, transport and obviously _outfits_). They were going to outside the city and down through the mountains where Roxy's childhood ranch laid and everyone had woken up early to get a head start.

A day's worth of food and necessities were packed into the vehicle and the boys were there to see them off. Stella asked Timmy about how everything worked so she could drive it (Which by the way, everyone knew spelt 'disaster' all over it. Brandon palmed his face in futility after having firsthand experience of her driving skill in Magix.). Bloom stood a little ways from Sky who was busy staring into the distance as if contemplating something deeply.

"I see that you've dressed appropriately," Sky noted out of the blue and turned to his fiancée. Bloom had jumped when he realized he was addressing her. "You look like a really good tourist."

This was the first time they had seen each other since the incident in the park and it seemed that every time they spoke, the situation got worst and worst. It was all Sky's fault anyways, Bloom had reasoned. If he had been nicer or wiser with his choice of words, maybe the rift between would not be so wide.

Sky's words had deeply troubled the fiery princess for the last several days and inside, she knew that some of what he said was true. She was being stupid but just refused to admit it. The Sky that had spoken to her was not the same Sky that she was used. He was a lot blunter with his words and his actions even meaner.

Bloom pouted and looked away, "I'm glad you like it," she said with cool civility. She could hear the lack of self-confidence and childishness in her voice.

A tense silence overcame the two.

Roxy took note the two's interaction. Weren't they supposed to totally heels over head in love?

Everyone else was saying their personal goodbyes until Roxy bravely said, "Gee, all of you look perfect. It must be nice to have those kind of clothes at hand for things like this," to break the silence that had overcome Sky and Bloom.

Stella screamed and everyone jumped. "Omigod! How could I have forgotten something like that?! I'll fix that right away!" The sun princess leaped out of the RV over Timmy who was showing her the gears and landed in front of the bewildered pink-haired girl. The princess sure had a lot of energy for so early in the morning.

"Well, it's not totally necessary—whoa, whoa, WHOA?!" Roxy yelled modestly.

With the flick of a wrist, Roxy could feel her clothes change and dematerialize. It was an extremely odd sensation where white-yellow light had completely surrounded her. For a moment there, Roxy thought that Stella was going to magically strip her nude on that very parking lot when she felt her arms and legs become exposed but then from the white light encased her to become solid clothes.

Roxy found a cowboy hat on her head and looked down for further inspection whatever strange clothes Stella had made for her. Teal green ruffled sleeveless shirt with a collar with short shorts, purple thigh-highs, boots and arm warmers with an overall western theme; overall, it was not that bad. It did feel a little Harajuku inspired for some reason.

"What do you think?"

Roxy was going to say that it was a little much but after one look from the princess's bright shining eyes, "Th-thank you, Stella."

Everyone said their farewells and the girls got in the vehicle to ride out the two drive. Stella, who was driving, tried to put up a conversation about happened last night with Bloom about Sky but Bloom evaded and the conversation fell on to Roxy's dreams.

Roxy re-explained what happened in her dream to very detail of her clothes in which the getup she was wearing when she was a fairy troubled her deeply. The girls somewhat read deeply into the guy with the dark wings that she was flying with.

"An enemy?" Flora suggested. "Stella, watch the road!"

"Oh, relax! I know how to drive!"

"But why would I dream about something like that? I don't even recognize the guy," Roxy said, sitting in passenger seat at the front with Stella. She held on to the dashboard for dear life as Stella made a sharp zigzag.

"Maybe somebody you'll meet?" Layla suggested. "Like a premonitory dream or warning?"

Roxy continued on with her story about the view of Gardenia and then the waltz in the large ballroom with another stranger. She made careful not to mention any names to the girls except for the girls themselves. She was not sure if telling Bloom that she saw Sky was appropriate.

"Oh, how cute…" said Musa wistfully. There was tone in her voice that spoke of jealousy and it was obvious that she was imagining, though farfetched, of Riven dancing with her.

The conversation took on a serious tone as soon as Roxy spoke of her mysterious companion on the bench. She described the voice as being one but many at the same time and definitely motherly or womanly as well as excruciatingly insistent about asking Roxy the same question "Will you accept your changes?"

"I said 'yes' but before that she said something about the Black Circle. Like I can join the Black Circle if I wanted but it would just slow me down or something."

Stella swerved the vehicle dangerously off the road for a moment and braked hard. "JOIN THE BLACK CIRCLE?!" Stella screeched in an accusatory tone to Roxy who was right beside her, "Now, I'm seriously starting to worry about this voice. Who on Earth is she and what does she want from you? Is she insane?" Stella continued to drive, probably breaking two dozen laws at the same time in probably all the provinces of Italy.

Roxy cringed from being screamed at such a close distance, and just generally not liking the blond princess, screamed just as hard, "It's not as if I'm planning on joining them since they're the ones who want to kill me or take my powers or whatever! Fuck, calm down and take a pill or two. This is a lot harder for me to accept since it's all happening to _me_!"

"Don't you dare scream at me like that!" Stella said indignantly.

"I'll scream if I want you. I don't give a shit if you're a princess!" Roxy spat out. "Who the hell are you to tell me what to do?!" Roxy turned in her seat to face the princess, ready to jump and start throwing fists at her.

Inevitably, their bickering only escalated. They exchanged insults heatedly and the end did not seem soon. Tecna roared in frustration looking ready to pull out her hair, put down her PDA and got up to the front of the RV and started yelling orders. "Stella, stop this thing NOW! Layla, you drive! Roxy, stay where you are. I will not stand for this stupidity. If you can't have a civilized conversation, you might as well not have it at all."

The RV had come to a screeching halt and it was another five minutes before it got moving again. Stella sat in the back with Bloom pouting under Tecna's watchful eyes while Layla drived. A thunderstorm was above Roxy's head as she fumed and swore profoundly under her breathe—her very unladylike vocabulary thanks to her father and working at the bar.

Layla, whose driving was infinitely much better than Stella's, cringed slightly at her companion's choice of words. Musa offered everyone a bottled soda at some point and when the music fairy handed Roxy's, she tried to give a reassuring smile. Roxy could see that seemingly Asian girl wanted to say more but did not.

Roxy leaned her head against the window and watched farms and forests go by with disinterest. Layla chanced to strike a somewhat more intimate conversation with the new fairy.

"So, um, are you okay?"

Roxy grunted. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Okay, let's talk about something else then. What about…how's your magic coming along with Flora's book?"

Roxy did not answer.

"Okay, how about boys? Don't you have a boyfriend?" Layla cooed while Roxy's face reddened.

"No…" she said meekly.

"How come? Have you ever had one?"

"Most boys were stupid at my school."

"What about Andy? He's not stupid."

"I only see him at the bar. I don't like him anyways."

"Well, what about friends? Surely you have some friends that visit you at the bar."

"They're all at school."

"School…? And why aren't you with them?"

"I want to save money for school after I'm on my own."

"You have to pay for school?"

"Books and necessities aren't cheap in Italy and the university I want to go is too far for me to commute to everyday."

"Oh… Forgive me, Roxy but I have to ask, do you hate me?"

The other girl stiffened and looked over to Layla. "N-no… I like you. It's just that…" Roxy threw a glance over her shoulders to show what she meant.

Sensing the source of the pink-haired girl's problems, Layla nodded and kept her eyes on the road. "I know what you mean. Stella, most of all, is the hardest to accept because of her upbringing and her parents. It took her a long time to think of me as a friend."

"What happened to her parents?"

"They're King and Queen of Solaria but they started to file for divorce just before she turned ten. It was pretty hard for her then and I think that she still wishes that it had never happened. Just give her some time to cool off, that's all."

Roxy turned to Layla. "Can I ask something?"

"Sure. I'll try my best to answer it."

"What's wrong with Bloom and Sky?" Roxy said in a whisper.

Bloom sat in back near window where carelessly gazed at the scenery that passed by. Her face appeared quite somber and sad and she did not put up much of a conversation throughout the trip yet.

"I mean, they're engaged and all but aren't they supposed to be madly in love if they want it to work?"

"Well, yes, but I'm sure that you know that Sky had just become king on his home planet and Bloom isn't taking it well. She's just not used to all the royal behavior yet. Like, yeah, he's started acting differently ever since his coronation but I can't blame him. I would feel the same way if I were queen or king. Plus," Layla started to speak in a conspiratory tone, "Bloom is just being a little too sensitive or insensitive sometimes towards the things he has to face. You know how hotheaded she is when she fights. It's about the same thing, I guess."

"Bloom grew up on Earth, right? But then moved to Magix when she was sixteen because she had discovered Stella and whatnot, right?" Roxy confirmed.

"Yes."

"But didn't she go to Alfea to learn about politics, too?"

"Yeah, but it's not the same thing. Let me make this clear now: Sky does not control all of Eraklyon. A different member of his family is responsible for one aspect of Eraklyonite government. Then there are the individual countries and provinces to deal with but let's forget that. Like his mother, who is his queen, deals with certain parts of the military. Mostly all the administrative stuff and paperwork for people like Brandon who's a squire. Before he was king, Sky dealt with the nobility and royalty of his realm and keeping them in check as preparation to become king. Sky's position is almost a figurehead title now—you know what figurehead titles mean, right?"

"Yeah. A position without real authority."

"Well, that's what Sky's got but it's the most important title of all because he represents an entire planet and he has to be civil and nice and deal with a lot of political crap on a galactic scale. It requires him to be extremely social and I think that you might have noticed that when he cozy ups to customers who instantly fall heels over head in love with him, right?"

Roxy thought for a moment about what the water princess had said and thought back on Sky's actions. There was Jenny who had recently taken to obsessively gossiping about Sky to Roxy when he was not within earshot. Some of the guys had cheerfully teased her for being on the receiving end of that treatment while Sky miraculously stayed seemingly unaware. There were times, Roxy was sure of it now with Layla's information, that she herself had felt a certain magnetism to the man. Well, she had seen him quite a few times shirtless while Sky played rugby or volleyball with Andy's crew and the specialist on the beach. Roxy turned red as Bloom's hair at the thought.

"You've felt it too, then?" Layla asked.

"I-i…no, don't--?!" Roxy stuttered, mortified at what Bloom would do if she caught whiff of this conversation.

"Don't worry. You're not alone, Roxy," Layla assured. The water princess wore a nostalgic look.

"You, too?"

"Yes, but that's getting off topic," the princess skillfully evaded. "It would be impossible for him to reign in all of Eraklyon government anyways because it requires a lot of traveling and discussing with various people to the point of being physically impossible. It's like having to be at ten different places at the same time."

Roxy nodded. "I get it. But didn't you say he has a figurehead title? Where's his power, exactly?"

"Well, he has his family to stand behind him. Think of it as a mafia of sorts. Being king and having all that power would cause chaos because he would have to exert his power everyday for little matters so the family takes care of it."

'Intergalactic Waste Management System' came to mind and it made Roxy giggle like a child being subjected to tickle torture. Layla rewarded her one raised eyebrow as she drove. For some reason, the idea of Sky belonging to some type of mafia background was fairly funny. "I wonder who the Don is?" Roxy asked.

"The _what_?"

"The person in charge of the mafia."

"Oh, that would be his mom at the moment but Sky will fully takeover soon, if that's what you're asking." Quite clearly, Layla did not understand the Italian mafia jokes.

"I have to show you some mobster films when we get back, Layla," Roxy snorted outright.

Layla picked up the conversation. "Now, try adding Bloom to the picture."

Chaos came to Roxy's mind. Bloom would be shot. Then another thought occurred to her: what if Sky's family really was like the mafia?

Layla sensed the other girl's thoughts. "Not a pretty sight, is it?"

"Yeah."

"I know Bloom is trying, though. It's just awfully hard because she has no experience with it."

"How did they get together?" Roxy blurted.

"I don't know."

-

It was about mid-morning when Asta came in for her usual morning tea at the Frutti Music Bar. She also intended to do a bit of heavy reading and so she found herself sitting in the lounge area of the bar where university students tended to congregate in the afternoon. She found herself a quiet corner and holed herself in the windowed booth with several heavy books.

She wore a brilliant white dress with strappy sandals. Her long ebony hair was pulled back into a half ponytail. As usual, she received her fair share of attention from the men around. To say the least, Asta was fairly curvaceous and tall, as well. Model tall, actually. She supposed that someone who was going to do a heavy amount of reading would not dress so nicely.

"Good morning, ma'am!" said the waiter who served her table.

Asta looked up and found herself face-to-face with Helia. "Wow, I'm still amazed that you called me 'ma'am' since the first time, y'know." Asta turned back to her book to finish a sentence. "What's next on the list?"

Helia produced a menu which he began to read. "Yesterday, you had cherry, right?"

"Uh-huh." Asta nodded and looked to him.

The Frutti Music bar had an extensively long list of tea flavours, as Asta had discovered after she just came to Earth, and she had self-appointed herself the mission that she would try every flavour in alphabetical order—as well as keep an eye on Sky, of course. Coincidentally, it had been the artist who had been serving her and pointing to the large array of tea on the rack behind the counter. Ever since then, it had always been him to serve her tea.

"Oh, you're going to either love or hate this one, I think," Helia announced. "Chocolate chip."

"Is it good?"

"Don't know. I'm more of a coffee person. You might as well try. Do you want just one cup or an entire pot?"

"I'll go with a pot. I'm going to be here for a while, as usual."

"Milk?"

"Please."

"Right away then." Helia left to fill the order.

Asta watched him round the counter to reach for the specific tea cartoon. She hated to keep things hidden but it was better that way for now. She had too much planned and she would not derail them for one silly little girl yet. She pulled out a notebook and pen and turned to a certain page where she had messily scrawled the theory she had discovered just before falling asleep last night.

There was some validity to her theory but plenty of holes as well. The pink-haired girl had at least two dozen valuable quarks of pure magic running through her and that was more than what most magical beings in the Milky Way had anyways. The girl would prove most useful indeed if she ever decided to acclimate to the magical life.

Roxy was strong-willed but Asta was sure that if she became her friend, she could make her see things as Asta did. If not, she could always break her to her view with other less pleasant means. She noticed that the girl in question was not anywhere in the bar. Asta glanced at the missing girl's father behind the counter who was busily and happily chatting with the little squire-cum-glorified-soldier Brandon. The girl was not there. Asta stretched her mind and searched for Roxy. She was not within four miles of the bar in any direction, at least.

Good. This could give her space to plan. She was sure that Sky and the specialists would be no problem and so she did not worry about them. She had heard from her subordinates that the Winx Club had not opened shop today and were on a trip. It seems that Roxy might have gone with them, Asta pieced together.

The black-haired girl spent the next good hour thinking about the plan. It had to be simple. Murphy's Law dictated that 'anything that can go wrong will go wrong' and she wanted to avoid that as much as possible. She supposed that the very first move was to say hi to Roxy one morning and get acquainted with her. From there on, she could judge how to initiate the next move.

If only the Black Circle was not so greedy for power. Power was nice and all but it got terribly boring when no one was there to challenge you. Asta knew since she had been there once.

"Here's your chocolate chip tea, Asta." Helia placed a ceramic pot on the table with a carton of milk and a mug. He raised an eyebrow at her heavy studying and messy notes and then to her innocent smiling face. She had purposely let him see her notes. "_Don't you even dare start thinking about it, Dijana!_" he hissed in a language not of Earth.

"_It's too late. I've committed and you're a part of it._"

Helia's eyes widened in surprised. Then a slow curious smile crept upon his face.

* * *

**Latter Note:** Oh, wait! What's this?! What is Asta planning?! Next up, old man Batson's farm! Will the Roxy and the six Winx discover why they were sent to the farm or will Black Circle beat them to it? Will Sky and Bloom resolve their problems or is a break up in sight?

Anyways, hmmm…I guess that I'm giving a Sky a more prominent role in Bloom's life. If you compare it to way he has acted in the show, he had more of a supportive role to Bloom. He has never been truly angry at her or been shown as an equal to Bloom in any sense. Now, he has his own life to deal and I am making him more dominant as it should be. I suppose that this is the side that Bloom has never seen before because she was always busy defeating evil and the like. I know that Sky is acting like a royal jackass but how can you say that isn't what he would do? In the show, we don't see him enough to judge his character properly. I think Bloom is bossy and has taken advantage of Sky's submission to her quite a few times.

It's kind of like making Bloom realize that she needs to grow up quickly or else she will fall far behind Sky. Now, she has the chance for a real normal life but she does not really know how to react and so she gets angry. Sky is moving full speed ahead in life making important choices for his realm but Bloom is pulled back to square one trying to make her decisions between her adoptive and real parents.

Realize that Sky was born to become king (assuming that he was the heir apparent). He really did not have many choices. From birth, he knew what his life would be like so he acts accordingly and takes on his responsibilities. He could not shirk them off because too many people depend on him.

As for Layla, yes, I know that she acts way too lovely-dovey for our tastes in the show. She did a 180 there and we're sick of how gushy she is. She used to be the tomboy of the group until Nabu came around. Realize that she has to grow as well because she is expected to take the throne of Tides/Andros. And then she will be expected to bear an heir and then there goes your tomboy image. Better now than never. I've made her sort of the mature one that Roxy goes to.

Helia. I have some things planned for him so don't start automatically thinking he's going to be evil or that it's almost impossible for his personality. As I've said for Sky, he had more of a supportive role than anything else. We don't know that much about him. He's graduated Red Fountain, I assume, and so he is a free man. His choices do not need to necessarily be guided by what the other guys do even though they are on a mission together.

As for Stella and Brandon, well, they're not really talking to each other and we all know because of that rat Mitzi. Stella is just being stupid, in my opinion. Well, I've said my share.


	13. Chapter 13 The White Circle

**Verboten  
****Chapter 13**

Thursday, August 20, 2009

**Disclaimer:** I do not own.

**Fore Note:** Unlucky 13. ;)

* * *

Roxy and the Winx had arrived at the horse ranch around mid-morning and had procured seven horses after finding out that they could not drive the RV into the forest. After having a refresher course of how to ride a horse from the ranch owner, the girls we on their way. The ranch owner warned them to be cautious when they got to the farm that Roxy had described saying that the new owner, Mr. Batson was not exactly the most generous person on the planet and that he was very territorial.

"Just be careful and if he tells you to leave, leave," the rancher advised.

The girls thanked the owner and trotted down a dirt path. Some of the girls found themselves comfortable on the horses, primarily Stella, Layla and Roxy, while the other girls did not.

"I'm not used to riding animals. This sfeems really wrong," Flora commented as she reined in her chocolate brown mare to the left.

Roxy slowed her horse down until she was riding right beside the flower fairy. "But don't you have animals on your planet?"

"Yes but I've lived in trees all my life. The only time I ride something is when I travel far."

"You lived in trees?" Roxy asked perplexed.

"Mm-hm, Linphea's magic is based on plant life and we've never really found much use for metal where I live," Flora babbled. "We live in coexistence with the animals and the insects and the plants."

"What's it like, the city you're from?"

"Well, it's in the trees. The trees here on Earth are like seedlings compare to the trees on Linphea. They gigantic and even go into the clouds like mountains some times. Oh, and there's flowers everywhere!"

Roxy tried to imagine a city in the trees. She reasoned that everything had to be made from wood since Flora said they did not use much metal. She found it extremely hard to imagine what Flora was describing and gave up. It all sounded too unreal to be real anyways but she was sure that the tanned girl was telling the truth.

Abruptly, Flora closed her eyes and started to groan in pain. Roxy stopped and yelled for the other girls and turned back to Flora who started to look ill.

"Flora, are you okay?"

Flora was slouched down on her saddle. "No, my head hurts. The trees are frightened! They keep asking for help!" Flora started to waver and Roxy jumped out of her saddle to help the other fairy down.

The other girls came around the two and hopped off of their saddles to help settle Flora who was beginning to pale on the ground.

"I don't feel well," Flora said sickly. "I have a major headache."

Layla offered her some water which she gratefully took. Several minutes, Flora's pounding headache began to subside and she was able to stand up again although she was shaken.

"What happened?"

"The trees, they're scared." Flora closed her eyes for a moment as she regained her senses. "We need to keep moving. Maybe we can help the trees later."

"Right."

The girls got on their saddles and moved forward down the trail. Slowly, the density of the forest started to lessen and the girls noted the incredible amount of stumps around. Flora had an uneasy feeling about it which only served to make the other girls worry about this person named Batson. They came upon a quaint little fenced farm with a central house in the middle surrounded by several barns. The earth looked well trodden and full of weeds and the occasional tree stump. A brook flowed right behind the property along with several acres or so of abandoned crop fields.

They reined their horses and dismounted, leaving their horses just outside the fence of the property.

"Helloooo!" Bloom called out. "Looks like no one's home."

"My scanner is going haywire, girls," Tecna read her PDA with a worried face. "There's an impossible amount magic circulating through this place."

"That must mean that was we're looking for is here, right?" said Musa.

Roxy looked about and she could see her father and herself in everywhere running around, having a picnic, her father helping her to mount her horse. So many memories that she had never bothered to remember until now. Where there was once a towering tree where she had ate lunch now stood a stump. The fields that used to bring strawberries every summer were gone. Roxy sighed nostalgically. If only her father could see this place now.

"YOU!" someone shouted. "What are you doing on my property?! This is my land. Leave or else!"

A man stepped out from a barn wielding a dangerous-looking double ax. He was a tall man with a receding hairline and moustache and wore jeans with an old cotton shirt.

"Uh, good afternoon, sir…" Bloom said bravely after seeing the ax. "You must be Mr. Batson. Please, can we take a look around your farm?" the fire fairy came up with on the spot. "We promise not to touch anything!"

"Yeah, we're just here to collect some samples of flowers for our school project!" Musa suddenly added.

"No," the man said grouchily. "Leave immediately. I don't like anyone snooping around my farm." He wielded the ax threateningly.

"Girls," Tecna whispered loudly for only the girls to hear. "Let's just leave now before we start a problem."

The other girls agreed and began to walk back to their horses. They mounted and rode up the trail but took a detour to rest the horses. The girls sat in a circle talking while eating lunch (which consisted of cold sandwiches and juice).

"Well, this isn't good," Layla said obviously.

"We need to take a look all around the property if we want to find out what was behind those pictures of yours, Roxy," Bloom said biting into a sandwich.

"But how do we do that? I'm pretty sure that Batson will call the police on us if stick our noses even an inch on his property."

Flora interrupted, "The trees say that it's been Batson who's been cutting them down."

Stella muttered something about casting a spell on the man.

"I'll pretend that I never heard that, Stella," Bloom said.

"Look. Just because we don't like the man, doesn't mean we can cast spells on him all we want," Tecna reprimanded. "We're full-fledged fairies, Stella, not witches."

"Well, what about our believix?" Musa suggested. "If he sees us as fairies, I'm sure he'll let us take a look."

"No, that's not right, Musa. We can't force people to believe. That only gives birth to fear."

"Plus," Roxy spoke up. "I think it'll give him a heart attack." Again, she found something funny in that situation and chuckled a little. "But I'm sure there's a way."

Unable to come up with a suitable solution, the girls continued to eat and cleaned up.

"Trust me, Roxy. We'll find a way," Bloom said placing her hand on the new fairy's shoulder. They were about to mount their horses and return to the RV when the wind picked up. Roxy shivered and turned. Finally, her eyes widened in fear.

"So you trust them, do you, Roxy?" a deep voice spoke. Ogron's smile dripped malice as he and the rest of the Black Circle stepped out of the shadows of the forest into the clearing. "That would be ill-advised if you look at their record."

Ogron had blood red chin-length hair and alabaster white skin with unnaturally blue eyes. Like the rest of his companions he wore a complicated black jacket intricately designed with belts. To his right stood Duman the shapeshifter with a maroon red Mohawk and on his left was Anagan the dark skinned trench coat wearing speed demon. On the far was Gauntlos with shock white blond hair who looked very much like a hunter.

The fairies turned to face the wizards, ready to jump into action.

"No! The wizards…but—?!" Bloom cried.

"But what, Bloom? How did we find you?" Ogron cooed. "Left us a very noticeable to trail to follow considering the wreckage you left behind in the first hour of travel this morning." Ogron meant Stella's terrible driving. "Men, you know what to do. Capture Roxy and eliminate the others," Ogron ordered.

There was a blinding flash of light as the girls transformed into their believix form. Roxy hid herself behind some trees while the others did battle. Duman transformed into unrealistically large bear and charged at the girls. Bolts of light came flying from every direction as the girls tried to fight off the shapeshifter. Their attacks simply bounced off him until Flora commanded tree roots to capture the bear. They wound themselves around Duman tightly as he struggled.

With ease, Duman broke the bindings and returned to his brethren wizards. He changed back to his human form. "The little one caught me by surprise," Duman said.

Ogron nodded to Gauntlos. "Would you like to try?"

"With pleasure." Gauntlos jumped into the air with a maniac smile and came hurdling down to the earth, causing a crater and a dozen miniature earthquakes.

All the girls flew up into the air but Bloom suddenly remembered that Roxy was wingless and came swooping down to catch her. "Are you okay?! I'm here!"

"And so am I!" Anagan sped across the clearing-turned-battlefield charging at Bloom.

Bloom heaved Roxy bridal-style into her arms and flew off in a hurry as Tecna flew in creating a green force field bubble to receive Anagan at full charge. She bounced back in her bubble and was thrown in another direction like a rubber ball.

Bloom landed and put Roxy on the ground. "Roxy, hide somewhere!"

"But—!"

"Just RUN!" Bloom threw bolts of fire at the wizards to buy time. "_Fire Arrow!_"

Roxy ran through the forest past the skittish horses. She felt their fear which only increased hers. She could hear her heart pounding wildly as she decide to go down one path and then another and then another until…

The girl took note of her surroundings and realized with a brfeaking heart that she had lost herself in the forest. She came to halt at a fork in the road and tried to catch her breathe. The wind picked up and she saw the sky turn violet pink. She was sure that the wizards were opening gates of the Black Circle to welcome her in. She panicked at the thought.

She heard branches move and trigs snap ahead of her and see looked, ready to bolt in the opposite direction. There was no way that the Black Circle could be open without all four wizards so there was no way that whoever was out in the forest with her was one of them. She looked through the dense bush and found that somebody was walking towards her.

What could she say? Tell him or her to run? She would only put the person in mortal danger.

"Please don't come near me!" Roxy shouted.

The person gave a throaty laugh. It was a woman's for sure.

The person approached until there was scarcely twenty meters between them. Through the darkness of the trees, Roxy could see that the person was fairly short with long wavy blond hair and an admirable figure. She looked to be about Roxy's age. She had a curious look on her face as if she was seeing Roxy as a cute oddity. The woman pointed to Roxy's left where one of the paths in fork led to.

"What are you saying?"

The woman did not clarify and pointed again. She smiled though.

"You want me to go that way?"

The woman nodded.

Suddenly, Roxy's mind was assaulted with images of Batson's recently visited farmstead but this time, it was from another point of view. Roxy saw herself and the six Winx talking to Batson from a high cliff that overlooked the valley the farm was on. Roxy could feel the emotion of concern.

Not up to questioning what had just happened, Roxy bolted for the path that the woman was pointing to. She found herself going downhill and at the end of the path, she found Batson's farm and went right in not caring if the owner was there. She hid in the closest building which was one of the barns. Thankfully, Batson was not there and she hid behind a neatly stacked pile of wood. Then she waited.

Hours seem to go by until Roxy heard a faint buzzing sound and looked up. She must have been hallucinating, she thought as miniature versions of the Winx girls came swooping in from a crack in the wall to land right beside her on the wood.

"Roxy!" a Barbie-sized version of Bloom squeaked. "How are you?"

"Good. Where are the wizards?"

"We ran. We weren't doing too well," Stella said, who looked indeed like a real Barbie.

"We couldn't control our powers properly," Flora added.

"I wish we had more time to train our powers," Stella said sadly.

"I don't think we have time for experimentation right now!" Musa said using the crack in the wall as her window. "They're here!"

The wizards muttered something loudly and abruptly, the place started to fill with noxious grey smoke. One corner of the barn started to blacken as if fire were consuming it. The entire barn was filled with wood so it did not look like a good idea to stay inside. The fairies scattered and flew to the crack.

Roxy coughed and maybe she was dizzy from hypoxia but she swore that she heard someone singing in the barn. She heard the fairies say something about someone getting hit and they flew out to Roxy inside. Roxy did not care though. She just wanted to know what that humming was and so she looked around the barn.

At first, she thought that a fire had entered but she found the light to be white and emanating from sometime on the floor. She approached warily and saw a white hoop-like object on the floor. Kneeling, Roxy inspected it more. The singing was coming from it. It was about the size of a Frisbee.

"Well, look at that," Ogron said curiously. The barn doors were wide opened and Roxy was blinded by the sunlight that spilt in. "What do you think you're doing?" He saw the white hoop on the floor and swore. "The White Circle—what on Earth is this doing here?" He bent down to pick up the white hoop.

That was probably the closest Roxy would ever to a wizard and curled back afraid that he would shoot with something. At the same time, she had stupidly approached to look at the object and what the man holding it would do. The white thing burned in Ogron's hands making him drop it.

The ring rolled across the ground to her and she picked it up while running out of the barn. After that, Roxy was not sure what exactly had happened and she had a vague recollection but she had held the ring high above her, there was bright pink and purple light and she had said something rather mystically oriented. She had felt the ring drain her of energy and at some point, her vision became blurry and the stars were calling her. Then came the swarms of animals and insects flying from out the wazoo and then she collapsed in exhaustion.

She had opened her eyes once to see Bloom in the sky absorbing fire into her chest and that almost gave Roxy a heart attack. She closed her eyes again and found Flora rousing her from her doze and telling to get up.

"What happened…?" Roxy felt like her body was heavy. She leaned heavily on Layla and found that all the girls had reverted to their original forms.

"Sweetie, just relax. You're tired," Flora said.

Roxy looked around and saw that the fire was gone and that Batson was talking to me. Believe it or not, he was smiling too. Then there was some conversation about the bar, the boys, something specific about Brandon, having smoothies and the trip home.

The way back to the horse ranch was rather difficult as Roxy was not fit to rein in her own horse. The other girls had Roxy ride on with Layla and Roxy's own horse was led by a lead. There was some apparent trouble about her falling asleep on the saddle and the fear of her falling off the horse though.

-

Roxy slept for most of the afternoon or so she had been told by one of the guys in her private playroom in the bar. The playroom was Roxy's own room on the property that her father Klaus had given to her a little kid when they first started the business. The point of it was to confine Roxy to one room where Klaus could keep an eye on her afterschool when he was working. The room had accumulated a lot of stuff over the years and now, there were was desk that she had used to study, shelves of her old school textbooks and other furniture to keep her from dying of boredom. It was almost like a second bedroom like the one at the house. The only thing was that there was no bed and so Roxy found herself sprawled on several beanbags with her pixie pets nipping at her nose.

She checked the time on a digital clock and found that she had missed dinner by two hours.

She yawned wearily and found herself still in the cowboy outfit although someone had the decency of covering her with a blanket. Not that she felt that the outfit revealed too much but she was a little pensive of showing her shoulders off. She blushed hoping that her father did not see it. Undoubtedly, he probably already saw it. There was a knock at the door.

"Roxy, are you awake?" her father asked through the door.

"Yeah."

"I'm coming in," he warned. The lean man came in and sat on an empty chair at her desk. He had a grave face and Roxy felt like she was in trouble. "Where did you go today?"

"To the farm."

He nodded as if he did not believe her.

"I swear that we did!" Roxy promised.

"Where did you get those clothes?" he said with distaste. She could tell that he did not like the outfit at all. How would she explain that?

"Um, Stella gave them to me." Well, that was _the_ truth—not the _entire_ truth but hey.

"What happened on the farm?"

"We went riding around in the forest trails and had a picnic," she lied. She could not tell him about the fight with the wizards yet. He would probably disown her.

"Right." He gave her a stern look as if he wanted to hurt her.

Uncomprehending why he was giving her this treatment, Roxy said, "What?"

Klaus stood up with the veins in his neck becoming pronounced. "How do you explain the condition you came back to me, Roxy?" he roared.

"What did _I_ do?" she screamed. "You don't need to yell at me!"

"You were half unconscious and could barely walk by yourself, Roxy! I had to get the boys to carry you in here." Klaus's eyes were bloodshot, Roxy noticed. "You look like you're high the way you were talking to me! You slept for four hours straight, Roxy!"

Roxy stiffened and realized what he was implying. "No, Dad! All we did was go out into the country! I promise! I didn't do drugs or anything illegal!"

"Those girls are bad for you, Roxy. They had trouble spelled all over them ever since Andy invited them."

"No, Daddy! I swear that we didn't do anything!" Roxy sat up. Her eyes watered as she realized that he was going to punish her.

"I don't want to see you near those girls anymore, Roxy! I don't even want them near this bar."

"But they did nothing wrong!" Tears were falling from Roxy's eyes and her lower lip began to quiver.

"I don't want to hear it anymore. They're a bad influence for you. That's all to it!"

"But you told me to make friends!"

"_Good_ friends that won't bring you home half unconscious!"

"But—!"

"That's enough! I said my share! You tell those girls not to come anymore. Don't get any bright ideas about telling them when I have my shifts here because the boys will tell me," Klaus said with a note of finality.

He turned to the door. "Get changed. Your shift starts in an hour and the cook has made dinner for you." Klaus shut the door.

Roxy's head fell forward unto her lap as she began to cry in earnest into the blanket.

-

It was another half of an hour before Roxy left her room and in different clothes that she had pulled out from a chest in her room. She worked mostly at the cash that night and made some of the drinks or prepared some of the desserts as well as prepare anything for takeout. Primarily, her work was behind the counter.

The bar with filled with raucous noise as Andy and his band played on stage. Some of the specialists asked her if she was fine but she just snapped at them of course. It was a regular night. People came and went eating or intending to have a good time, induced by alcohol or not. With Roxy in middle of all these festivities, she wanted nothing better than to curl up in bed. She found herself restless and would have liked to maybe sleep or spend her time reading a book. However, she felt that she was needed at the bar and did leave. Shirking her responsibilities did not sit well in her mind at the moment. Business started to slow down as midnight approached.

"So what happened to you?"

Roxy took a while to register that someone was talking to her and turned to see Helia, who was assuming the position as her with his cheek resting on the back of his fingers. She belatedly jumped in her seat. For some reason, her reactions felt slowed.

"You OD'ed," he said simply after carefully looking at her.

Roxy growled angrily. Why did everyone think she had taken drugs?! "I didn't take any drugs or drink anything, Goddamit! You of all of people should know that!"

He smiled thoughtfully. "I know…but you still OD'ed like a child."

"What are you talking about?!"

"From what I understand, you OD'ed on magic."

"…what?" Roxy turned on her stool to try to understand what the man was saying. "I didn't take any drugs," she said again.

"I never said that you did, Roxy."

"But you're talking about magic mushrooms!"

"What are you talking about?" Now, it was Helia's turn to act confused. He turned to her and tilted his head to the side.

"Y'know…" Roxy left it hanging but saw that he did not understand. "Mushrooms…illegal drugs that make you see things that aren't there…mushies, shrooms, happies…?"

"You're high, aren't you?"

"Am not! You're the one who brought it up!"

"But I don't even know what we're talking about!"

"We're talking about freakin' illegal drugs that could kill us," she said snippily. Why were men so dumb some times?!

"I got that much! I still don't understand what we're talking about!"

"Of course you don't! You're not from around here. You're not even from this _planet_!"

"_Exactly!_ So how am I supposed to know what we're talking about? I'm the foreigner!" the artist said exasperated and pouted to the side.

Slowly, Roxy realized that Helia truly had no idea what they we talking about. She juggled the thought around in her mind and her insides began to tremble until she started to laugh outright. Her cheeks ached and the muscles in her shoulders bunched as she dropped her head on the counter in a comical fashion. She even banged the side of her fists on the counter as she realized how the stupid the conversation had gotten.

"You're laughing at me, aren't you?" Helia said flatly.

"Omigod, you're so dumb that it's funny sometimes." Roxy wiped some tears from her eyes.

"You _are_ laughing at me!" he said indignantly with a grin pulling at his lips. Then he pompously said, "I'm not friends with people who laugh at the expense of others." He turned in his chair and feigned being emotional hurt by quivering his lower lip.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" she said in earnest. "I keep forgetting that you don't know everything about this place."

"I'm just kidding!"

"What you were talking about before though?"

"Like I said, you OD'ed on magic and so you collapsed right after."

"What do you mean by overdose of magic?"

Helia pulled out his pen and notepad and drew a stickman. "Normally, OD happens to little children who don't know how to control their powers yet. For example, one child might get angry and throw a temper tantrum." He pointed at the stickman with his pen. "What some parents do is let the child run his angry through its course because it's just as dangerous to bottle up the child's magic after it's been built up—kind of like boiling a pot of water. If you put the top on the pot, the top might pop up into the ceiling. The same thing applies to a child. The child goes kablooe and dies! Everyone starts crying, they have a funeral and the couple has another child. The end. Blah blah blah…" Helia drew waves that signified explosion around the stick man.

"As you might have gathered from Flora's book, magical energy is not solely derived from your own being—which is why you feel exhausted, by the way. Sometimes, you gather it from your surroundings like redirecting lightning from the sky or using fire from a candle and you will it into another form."

"Like inner and outer magic…ish?"

"Something like that." Helia drew a Venn diagram. Each circle was labeled Inner or Outer. "Depending on your specialty or 'magical power source'"—he made quotation marks with his fingers—"it will pretty much tell how you will adapt to use your powers. Some people have a mix of both skills like Stella or Bloom or Flora, actually, now that I think about. And Layla too because they are elemental forms of magic or energy. Musa is in the Inner category because she generates her own magic from her voice box or flute. Oh, and I think Nabu should in the center, as well."

Helia wrote the first four girl's names with Nabu in the intersecting parts of the circle. Musa was written in the Inner circle.

"Makes sense," Roxy noted. There was a sad note in her voice as she saw the girls' names though. "What about Tecna?"

"I'm not sure but I would like to put her on Outer because her magic is more about redirecting things." He wrote Tecna on Outer.

"And me?" Roxy said expectantly.

"I'm not sure. I haven't seen you use your magic enough. Plus, it takes a while to develop. There are psychological and physiological tests that can help you though."

"Oh…" Roxy's bubble deflated as Helia continued on.

"Listen to me because this is very important. You've shown potential for the 'Outer' magic from what I heard but any form of energy can be hazardous to your health. Remember that child who went _boom_?" he pointed at the stickman. "That does not happen a lot but it is possible. However, that won't kill you. What will is the exhaustion you feel after your temper tantrums. Physiologically, your body is acting rather violently to your magic. For having a short outburst of magic that only magnified your voice to call animals, you should not have collapsed. Most children just become sleepy or physically exhausted like from running. Your body is not used to having so much potential energy running through it and you're having a bad reaction. Right now, any overdose of magic is going to be like poison from now on until you're used to it."

"I sort of get it but how does the exhaustion kill me?"

"Staying up for twenty days straight without sleep is the equivalent of one childish magical outburst for you or some equivalent. Normally, it should be like missing naptime for a baby for one afternoon. One way or another, it will kill you."

"You're very reassuring."

"Thank you. I worked very hard for my psyche minor," Helia said with a flourish.

"Any other degrees that you would like wave in my face?"

"I have my degree for Biological Application of Magic."

"Is that the class that taught you all this?" Roxy pointed at the page.

"No, my grandfather. He's the wizard of the family."

Roxy thought for a moment. If Helia's grandfather was a wizard…did that not make Helia…?

"Sorry to break the lovely conversation," Riven interrupted. "The lady at table number ten would like a pot of coconut tea with a carton of milk." He pointed at a booth where a familiar woman with knee-length black hair in a white dress sat. She read a heavy-looking book with a studious face despite the commotion of the bar. "And a slice of strawberry cheesecake."

"Tea? At this hour?" Roxy asked staring incredulously at Asta.

"Yes, I know and I don't really care about people's tastes," Riven said. "Witches least of all."

Roxy went to the glass display fridge to take out a slice of cake while Helia prepared the tea. Riven went into the kitchen to return some plates. Midnight was approaching and people were starting to vacate. There were only about two dozen people left. Andy's band has decidedly started to play softer songs and the night was coming to a close.

While Helia was boiling water, a dozen men dressed in dark clothes wearing masks came rushing into the bar. They were all holding rifles and one of them shot several rounds that ripped the air into the ceiling to get everyone's attention. Andy's serenade died abruptly and everyone dove for cover. The bar erupted into chaos as some people tried to escape for their lives over the bar's open windows. Roxy dropped everything as she came face to face with someone's handgun. It was natural that something like that would happen considering she was just beside the cash register.

"Hands in the air!" the leader called. "Do as I say and no one gets hurt," he cooed.

All the men scattered about the bar telling people to move into the corners with threats. Some people panicked and some women whimpered pitifully. Everything seemed to painfully happen in slow motion.

It was official: life sucked. First, her dad accuses her of drugs and then he banned her friends from the bar and now, she was in the middle of a robbery. And all in one day.

Roxy's heart knocked against her ribcage while she looked with her peripheral for her father. She was thankful that he was nowhere to be seen. Her arms were above her and she could faintly hear water bubbling behind her. She hoped that Helia had done the same thing because she could not see him without turning. She found that some of the specialists were complying but some of them seemed to have disappeared. They had been there one moment and were gone the next.

She hoped maybe they would be her savior because it was still technologically impossible to dodge bullets on Earth unless the world was really the Matrix. The next best thing was to get the crime over with as fast as possible. Roxy knew what to do. Just comply with the robbers and no one gets hurt. Quick and painless. This is what her father had taught. He had said once that he would rather be bankrupt than lose his daughter and Roxy could see the sense in that.

Brandon was on the far end of the bar standing with handful of people, Sky was near the stage with Andy and his crew and more customers and Riven was in the kitchen, last time she checked. Nabu had disappeared because she was sure he was just at table five cleaning up. Roxy saw some people that she recognized from the warehouse and they were in the crowds being cowed into the corners of the room.

"You there! The boy behind the counter!" the one pointing the pistol at Roxy shouted. "Turn around now."

Roxy turned on heels just enough to see Helia watching a pot of water boil just to her left. He was almost back to back with her and he watched the pot intently. The top was letting out plumes of steam out and whistling. _What the hell is he doing?!_ Roxy screamed in her mind. Was he out of his mind?!

"I said turn around!"

"Let me take pot off the stove, please. It's boiling water and someone might get hurt," Helia said in calm voice, with his back to the main part of the bar where everything was happening.

"Do it." The man holding the gun to Roxy's head had an unsteady stance and his voice was menacing but felt like it was missing conviction.

Helia turned off the stove that had been glowing bright red and lifted the pot off the stove while taking off the cover. He placed the pot beside the cheese cake that she had been preparing for Asta.

Roxy stared up at the specialist and saw an unreadable expression in his eyes. It looked like he was taking note of the situation and where everyone was. He bit his lower lip as if thinking. He looked at the man holding gun for a moment almost contemplating the antiquity of the weapon.

At this moment, Roxy really thought that he was an idiot.

Roxy's world came to a screeching halt as her father stepped out of the kitchen. Maybe he had stepped out to abruptly for the robbers' tastes or he had really surprised them but for some unfathomable reason, a bullet ripped through the air and Klaus collapsed to the ground.

"DAD!" Roxy screamed at the top of her lungs. Her eyes started to water profusely and she had a hard time breathing.

"You idiot!" one of the robbers swore profoundly at another. "Don't waste your bullets!"

It was now that the guys decided to act, seeing that everyone's attention was drawn to Klaus. All chaos let loose as the boys jumped into action with military precision. The air was filled with bullets as the specialists moved in on them.

Helia pulled Roxy out of the way and threw the pot of scalding water at the robber's face in front of the cash register in the same instant. The man screamed and blindly shot bullets that were meant for her and instead sent bottles of spirits exploding on the shelves behind her. Roxy found herself kissing the ground at the force which Helia threw her while he leapt over the counter to grab the man's gun arm and knee him in the face. The artist's weight forced the robber fall on his back with Helia sitting on his chest. With terrifying precision, Helia wrestled with the man's arm until there was a satisfying crack. Helia took the gun and pistol whipped the offender. He then shot two more robbers perfectly in the legs.

Riven dropped from the ceiling rafters in the circle of the robbers and took out two people midflight with well-aimed punches and kicks. With Riven then surrounded, tt was then that Nabu shook off his invisibility spell and was back to back with the redhead. Two more robbers tried to riddle them with bullets but that it did not work as they each grabbed a robber's gun arm, forcing the arms up into the air while firing several rounds and landing kicks right on their chests in a synchronized fashion.

Asta bashed the head of one ignorant thief with a stool and picked up a steak knife to throw it with deadly accuracy between the shoulders of another near Sky. The knife sunk all the way into the hilt and he fell. Brandon had grabbed the guns from the men that Helia had downed earlier and shot two more down who were about to attack Asta. Asta did a roundhouse kick that felled the two shot men.

Sky, farthest from all the commotion and the last to act had calmly taken his serving tray, held it above his head and threw it between the eyes of another robber who was across the room as if it were practice. He then pulled out a switchblade from his pocket and threw it into the shoulders of a man who was trying to crawl out of the bar. Everyone took a defensive stance as they did a headcount.

Seeing that there were no more, Sky spoke up. "Well, that was anticlimactic," he said with a weary note. "Exciting, but anticlimactic." Sky jumped onto the stage and asked everyone to remain calm and that all the bills were on the house. He also told them stay while they called the ambulance and police.

"I ripped my dress," Asta said in a whiny fashion after seeing the long rip on her side that had appeared when she kicked the robbers.

The specialists and some of the customers then began to line up all the downed robbers in a neat line in the middle of bar. All the while, Roxy sobbed over her dad's body as she screamed for him to stay with her. Her world had just collapsed. Klaus was the only sane thing in her life ever since the Winx Club had come in. They had showed a far more exciting life than what she currently had and suddenly, the only person who kept her grounded was on his deathbed.

"Lady, calm down. You're gonna make it worst for him if you keep screaming," a man with snowy white hair and startling red eyes said. He had a boyish charm about him and was one of Sky's people. He jumped over the counter to kneel over Klaus and Roxy found him almost painfully short for a guy.

"Please, he needs help!" Roxy whimpered. Her father's shirt had a large splotch of blood and was only getting bigger. A small puddle had started to form at his shoulder.

"Roxy," her father said in a strained voice. "Just calm down and do what he says."

"B-but—!"

"Lady," the boy caught her attention. "Listen to him because I'm gonna need you to help me here." To her father he said, "Sir, my name is Artos. I have some medical training. Will you let me help you?"

"Of course," Klaus agreed in a dazed voice.

"Good. Sir, I'm going to have to move you into a more comfortable position, okay? Roxy, help me here. We're going to turn him around. Sir, tell me if anything hurts." Artos told her to go to her father's head as Artos went to his feet to move him to the left. Klaus had fallen in the space between the bar and the kitchen door and he was fallen in an awkward position leaning against the wall. They moved him until he was lying flat on the ground.

Artos worked in a methodical fashion as he checked the old man for any other injuries and asking many questions. He told Roxy to fetch him the first aid kit and clean towels. Roxy was sitting at her father's head when Artos pulled out a pair of scissors intent on cutting Klaus's shirt wide open. Roxy turned afraid to see the wound. Artos saw this and told her to go fetch Asta to replace her.

Numbly, Roxy did as she was told and fetched Asta. Asta then told her to sit down at one of the tables with the customers. It was then that Helia came to her, offering a glass of water and told her to drink. He sat across from her.

"Roxy, don't ask questions," he said soothingly. "You're suffering from emotional shock. Just drink your water and take a deep breathe. Inhale…exhale…inhale…exhale…"

After that, the police and ambulance arrived. They took down names and asked everyone questions. When one of the officers asked a statement from Helia, he left her briefly to explain what he had done to the man with the broken arm. Andy was right beside her with his head in his hands. He was muttering broken sentences until he realized that Roxy was looking at him.

"I'm sorry. I'm just a little frazzled by this. Did you know that the guys could do this?" he asked all of a sudden.

Roxy was unable to speak and only shook her head as a negative.

"Did you see how Sky took out the two robbers? Shit, the man is dangerous if he carries a knife around like that…" Andy's breathing was rapid. "Shit…who the fuck is he?! What did Bloom do, honestly?"

Roxy did not comment.

Andy continued, "Those aren't regular guys. They aren't regular foreign exchange students either… Shit, man… Holy friggin' shit… Who are they?!" He rambled on and Roxy stopped listening.

She saw her father on stretcher and being pulled into the ambulance. She bolted from her seat immediately to follow him. His wound had been temporarily patched and a bullet in plastic bag was on his stomach. He looked to be asleep but Artos keep talking to him to make sure he was still with them.

"Wait! I'm going with him!" Roxy pleaded to medics. "I'm his daughter!" Artos was already in the ambulance though.

"I'm sorry but we have to get him to the ER asap, miss," one of them said.

"But—!"

Sky grabbed her by her shoulder. "Roxy, get in the car. We'll follow the ambulance," he offered.

And that's what they did. Sky and Roxy jumped into the guys newly purchase car and sped off after the ambulance while the others closed the shop and cleaned up. Once at the hospital, Roxy fretted for several more hours in the waiting room with Sky and Artos. The doctor watching over Klaus finally came out to speak with them around two in the morning.

"Well," the doctor said tiredly, "He's fine but suffering some shock. We need to keep in here for at least a week. Because of his age, he's slightly weaker."

Roxy clung to every word. "Is he going to be okay?!"

"Yes, if everything goes right and there aren't any surprises. He might have some pain in his shoulder though. We'll talk about that later. Right now, all you need to know is that he's fine and he's sleeping like a baby."

After that Roxy collapsed again in her seat and fell asleep on her chair.

* * *

**Latter Note:** Holy friggin'… Wow…Things are getting interesting.

Andy: HOLY FRIGGIN' CRAP! _Dude_, you're not supposed to throw knives at people!  
Sky: But it was for the safety of the customers! *puppy eyes*  
Andy: _Screw _the customers!  
Sky: You're pretty ungrateful. I just saved your life and bar's financial lifeline.  
Andy: What are doing with a knife in your back pocket anyways?  
Sky: I use it to cut open boxes in the backroom.  
Andy: Honestly, where did you say you were from again?  
Sky: Eraklyon.  
Andy: Where's that exactly?  
Sky: Galaxy NGC 3314b--! *Asta steps on his foot* OUCH!  
Asta: Sorry, we're from Heraklion, Greece. My friend here has a very strange accent, even for Heraklion standards. That's why he mispronounced Heraklion.

(I swear to God that there is a Heraklion in Greece.)

1) I do not condone any form of drugs. I severely hate alcohol as well and refuse to touch it.  
2) The mysterious blond woman in the forest is indeed mysterious. She was not there in the show nor is she a deus ex machina (plot device). ;)  
3) Yes, Asta has her priorities mixed up. ;)  
4) I do not recommend that you resist in a robbery. Do what the man with the gun says and give him the money. As soon as he leaves, call the authorities.  
5) Helia throwing hot water was inspired by a true story where a woman threw coffee in a similar situation.  
6) Sky is carrying a knife because he often has to open boxes in the back…or so he says. ;) Andy is freaked out.  
7) The fight in the forest was condensed because it honestly felt god awfully long and useless.  
8) Yes, I exaggerated Roxy's condition somewhat but Helia provided the clinical reasons. In theory, she woke up at eight in the evening, worked 'til twelve-ish and fell asleep in the hospital around two. That's about six hours, I think.  
9) YES, FRIG! I SHOT KLAUS, OKAY?!?! Right after he accused his daughter of shady business, I had to get him shot and in the hospital. However, don't say that he deserved it. He's only doing what he does in the best interest for Roxy.

You know, I have to say, this story is taking an interesting turn. Roxy is trying to learn magic but then her father gets shot in something as mundane as a robbery. Like trying to live two lives in one. Tell me what you think.


	14. Chapter 14

**Verboten  
Chapter 14**

Friday, August 28, 2009

**Disclaimer:** I do not own.

**Fore Note:** No one died. Geesh, calm down. Do you really think I would kill Klaus?

By the way, mild swearing.

* * *

Roxy found herself in the engulfing darkness again. She could her hands clearly in the darkness. Suddenly there was a symphony of deafening explosions as she covered her face with her arms. She felt the explosive waves of forces surround as if real bombs were going off and she started to run.

A sense of dread consumed her mind like she was drowning and one particularly close explosion went off behind her as she ran. She found herself diving into a pine needle littered floor of a sparse grey forest. Roxy found herself clawing at the floor trying to get up. Up again, she started to run forward to be forced back by another force wave that pushed her back down to the forest floor. She slid on her back down the hilly crest. Pine needles caught in her hair and pricked at her neck.

Breathing heavily, Roxy rolled over on to her hands and knees as she tried a look of her surroundings. The sky above her was blue but everything around her seemed to be dead or charred to a crisp. There was the occasional caw of a bird and then the sounds of zeppelin ships roaring above her. Something exploded in the distance.

She sat on her haunches and realized that her hands were scraped bloody and smudged with dirt. Her hair was tied in a ponytail and that she was wearing green camo pants and boots with a thick fading black sweater. Her breathe was visible as white vapours and tentative touches to her face confirmed her face was scratched.

Where was she now? Was it another insane dream with that companion of hers? She found herself conscious enough think on her own as well as feel pain so it had to be one of those.

She turned to see if someone would come. Someone did.

A swarm of golden monarch butterflies seemed to come from every direction along with the smell of fresh baked bread and some type of heavenly meat roasting. Roxy found her stomach growling as she sniffed the air for all its worth.

The gold butterflies seem to settle into one ominous floating mass and dispersed into a gentle shower golden light as the light settled into a petit blond woman. The forest started to glow golden and suddenly the trees were growing moss and needles. Plants seem to charge in a steady line as they began to grow in waves. There was an autumnal glow about it.

Roxy stared unsure.

The woman was built but not so much that it took away from her admirable figure. She had waist-long locks of golden blond hair that cascaded over her shoulders. It had a windswept look to it that framed her face and made her orange hazel eyes stand out. She looked like an industrious woman with hardened eyes but a soft smile. She wore an all black outfit of knee-length shorts, a black vest with an ankle long trail in the back, shoes with leather fingerless work gloves. In essence, she looked younger than Roxy but maybe around Asta's physical age.

"Who are you?" Roxy said nervously.

The woman pointed at herself in surprise but did not make a sound. She looked around for something and then to pointed to a spot on Roxy's right. Suddenly, a lion came bursting out of the ground roaring while the foliage and pine needles fell off its back and sides. Roxy screamed as she tried to back away from the beast.

The woman was honest to God going to kill her!

As if sensing her thoughts, the blond went to stand in defense of the lion and cradle the head of the lion as it were a pet and pointed at herself meaningfully.

"What…?"

The blond pointed between herself and the lion again.

"Li-lion?"

She nodded but pointed at the neck joint where there evidently was no mane characteristically grown on males.

"Lion…ness?"

She nodded behemothly.

"Your name is Lioness?"

She nodded again. Then she placed her head to the lioness's ear and the lioness turned to pad quietly into the forest. The woman known as the Lioness then went to Roxy and made her stand up. Lioness than waved her hand suddenly, there was knee rock growing out of the ground. Lioness urged her to seat down it.

All the while, Roxy felt like 'child' could best describe the way the Lioness acted and she found it rather endearing.

Then the lioness came back but holding a furry bundle in its jaws. The feline placed the kitten in Lioness's lap and coddled the kitten with its muzzle until it was stirring.

Roxy recognized it immediately as the kitten she had found behind the trash can when she ran from the Black Circle the first time. The kitten mewled charmingly and Roxy's heart melted at the sight.

Lioness held the kitten up and put it front of Roxy's face like she was giving the kitten to her.

"M-mine?" Roxy asked surprised.

Lioness nodded.

Roxy took the kitten into her lap and petted him while the Lioness made all sorts of arm gestures that expressed what she meant.

"But I found her behind a trash can? How can you be giving her to me?"

Roxy mind was assaulted with mental images again. In her mind's eye, she saw Lioness walk down a street in a hurried pace while carrying the kitten in her arms. She placed the kitten in the middle of the sidewalk just between the front of a house and a couple of garbage can and pull out a handful of hard cat food. She placed it in front of the kitten and kitten attacked the food ravenously.

Roxy recognized the place immediately as where she had sat down and rest after she had ran away from the Black Circle. The very place that she found the kitten. Roxy then understood that the images in her mind were Lioness's memories seen at a distance.

"_You _gave me the kitten?"

She nodded.

"Why?"

Lioness shook her head and put a finger to her own lips as gesture of silence.

Then there was the chiming of bells in the distance and Lioness listened to it carefully. She made an apologetic face and conjured an oversized bouquet of flowers and shoved them into Roxy's arms roughly.

Lioness then stood up and shot a hand into the air as the illusion of the golden autumn forest began to break. A swirl of golden light formed from her hand as it dispelled the illusion. The burned and gray pine forest returned at an alarming rate as Roxy suddenly fell down on her butt. The rock she had been sitting on was gone and the kitten in her lap as well. With a wave of goodbye, Lioness burst into a clump of burnt needles and rotting leaves.

Then the explosions came back and a ghostly scream pierced the air as Roxy found a wraithlike white clothe floating on a gray mist fly through the air. There were evidences of sleeves on the white clothe and wrinkled gray-skinned arms. It had barbed yellowish fairy wings and a face with haunting red eyes. A mottled mass of black oily hair floated ethereally about the being.

A feeling of terror and bloodlust enveloped Roxy and made her want to retch. Images of battlefields drenched in horrifying amounts of blood with dismembered bodies scattered everywhere. Some of them wailed for death and to take the pain away while some screamed for a quick death. Some bodies twitched eerily.

"_I will have my revenge!_"

Then the vengeful specter shot itself at Roxy going for her throat with claw-like hands. Roxy screamed.

-

Roxy woke up startled and sweaty and found Artu be nipping at her fingers. She scratched behind his ear. Sunlight spilt in from the windows and turned her room yellow. She looked down at herself in her pajamas. Something felt wrong and she could not quite put her finger on it. She checked the time on her digital clock: 12:45PM.

"Ho shit!" Roxy screamed. Why hadn't her father woken her up yet or even called at least? She ran across her room and into her father's. "Dad?!" she shrieked. The bedroom was empty and the curtains were closed.

_No, no, no, no!_ It was _all_ a very bad dream! She was sure of it and that was all to it!

"DAD?! DADDY?!" Roxy ran into every room screaming. Doors slammed shut behind her as she went to the next room. Empty, empty, empty! She started to run down the stairs—

"Hey, hey, hey! Calm down!" Asta jumped out of a hallway to the foot of the stairs.

—and she smacked into the girl at the foot of the stairs. They were a pile of limbs as they tried to figure out what was what.

"_ASTA, WHERE'S MY DAD?!_" Roxy eyes were tear-stained as grabbed the witch's shoulders painfully.

"Roxy, calm down, okay? Your father's fine but he's in the hospital."

"Th-that's impossible!"

The two girls sat facing each other on the floor as Asta tried to reason with the pink-haired fairy.

"Roxy, listen to me. You're father is in the hospital. He's alive!"

"But—!"

Obviously annoyed, Asta slapped the girl in the face. "Honestly, will you listen to me?! You're father is fine! He's healing!" Asta shook her by the shoulders.

"He's…he's r-really in the hos-hospital?" Roxy sobbed out.

Asta nodded and Roxy wailed loudly. She cried until her cheeks were wet with tears. Asta pulled the crying girl into her arms in a protective embrace. The black-haired girl cooed soothingly into her ear while Roxy refused to accept the truth. Her words were empty as she knew what had really happened.

Asta pulled Roxy together with a sort of blunt practical attitude promising that they would visit Klaus. She told Roxy to shower and dress and Roxy did. Asta somehow prepared for her a warm lunch using the foodstuff already in the fridge and Roxy took a moment to wonder how had Asta managed that? Didn't Earthling food seem in the least bit strange to her or was food in Eraklyon about the same? Roxy pondered it for moment as she looked at the plate of leftover spaghetti and salad. The plate was split right down the middle to an almost precise line of division between the two foods.

"What? Did I do something wrong?" Asta asked annoyed at girl. Of course she was annoyed; Roxy was staring at the plate as if something from going to come to life from it or something.

"N-no!" She began to eat in earnest after she found herself ravenous.

When they stepped out of the house with Artu in tow a half of an hour later, Roxy's breathe was caught in her throat as she saw the silver-striped black luxury car parked in front of the house.

"This is yours?" Roxy gasped. She suddenly felt underdressed to even ride in the thing. All she wore was jogging pants and a hoodie. Maybe it was the overall shininess that was making her gasp but sure did look like a very expensive car. Asta who always seemed to be dressed in all the envy-inducing brand names, like she was now in a revealing black corset, white jacket and delicately stained dark jeans and stilettos, was just doing that seem like some rich bitchy Earthling with a lot of money and time (seeing as she spent most of her time flirting with boys at the bar).

"No, actually, Sky's letting me borrow it just to get to your place," the girl said modestly.

"But what about the red car—?"

"A cover, of course. Sky's a fan of antique vehicles that run on wheels rather than anything with float stones or hover engines. He has a whole parking floor devoted to these things at home."

Home…home to Sky was probably a castle. Sky probably had a battalion of these things then.

"Are you coming in?" Asta was already in the driver's seat starting the engine. The car roared to life and Roxy suddenly felt worried for her life as she put Artu in the back while she sat in the passenger.

The new fairy suddenly found herself going at 200 miles per hour in less than a second and Roxy screamed as she held onto the dashboard. Instead of a klutzy blond fairy with no sense of direction or attention to the road, Roxy had found herself with maniacal laughing black-haired speed demon who was going to kill her.

"OMIGOD! SLOW DOWN!"

Asta laughed a girlish laugh and slowed down gradually to a stop in front of an intersection.

"That got your heart running, didn't it?" Asta said cheerily.

"Don't. Ever. Do. That. Again!"

"I won't," Asta said and then added, "It's so much more fun when you're on a levabike." The witch then began to drive at a steady and safe speed like a regular person.

They passed by the Frutti Music Bar and Roxy stared at it longingly. The police were there closing it up with yellow tape as they searched it for whatever they wanted. Business would be dead for the next couple of days. Ten minutes later, they arrived at the hospital and Roxy recognized the chair she had fallen asleep in and all the horrible waiting.

They went through the usual administrative business and then after a set of complicated directions, Roxy found herself in front of her father's bed where he quietly dozed with a serene look about his eyes.

"Dad…?" she whispered.

Asta stepped out of the room to give her room.

Klaus stirred slightly and Roxy became unsure of what to do. She looked about the room and noted the personal touches. There was a stack of get well cards and when her eyes fell upon a familiar looking oversized bouquet, her hands went flying to her mouth. Lioness had given such a bouquet in her dream just before leaving her in the horrifying wasteland with the exact same types of flowers.

"Kid…?" Klaus said in a drowsy voice. He squinted his eyes at her. "Roxy…?"

"D-dad?"

"I'm here, kid."

Roxy eyes swelled with tears and she sobbed as she hugged him tightly. She was never going to let him go!

"Roxy, calm down. I'm alright."

"Dad…" she sobbed, "I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry!" She repeated those same words over and over.

Klaus put an arm around her as she cried into his chest.

Her father could have died. That sent an icy chill to Roxy's heart and she held him even tighter. What would she have done? How would she have gone on? Roxy cried harder and thanked God that He did not take him away from her. She never thought that she could have lost her father so easily and something so stupid as a robbery. Her father supposed to be this rock-solid figure in her life. Nothing could bring him down.

"I'm so sorry...I'm so sorry…" she whimpered.

"It's okay. Everything's fine. No one's hurt and I'm alive…"

"No, it's _not _alright!" she sobbed.

"There, there…" he cooed gently.

It was a good twenty minutes before Roxy ran out of tears. She sat in the chair beside his bed sniffling. Then a doctor entered and drabbled on about Klaus's health and recovery for a while.

-

Asta sat in hosfpital cafeteria sipping a cup of tea while reading a heavy-looking book. She wondered. Could she use last night's events to get a hand on Roxy? She probably could but what affect would that have on the Winx Club? She could try but nothing too chancy. Just say hi, put a smile on and hug the girl when she cries. Right now, it was better to work on the circumstances that Roxy faced everyday and somehow insert herself into that to make herself a permanent fixture in the girl's life.

She looked down at her almost empty cup of tea. Screw it. She was ordering a large espresso this time, much to her chagrin. She had not slept much since last night's, or this early morning's event, as she was constantly doing something since she had left the bar.

First, Timmy had arrived at the bar to help and apparently Sky left him in charge at some point. She and Timmy using her car drove everyone to the warehouse where they got checked by a physician and were forced to sleep despite the adrenaline running through them.

All except Asta who had taken it upon herself to locate and go to the hospital and check up on Sky. She had then promptly brought Artos and Sky back to the warehouse and broke into Roxy's house to put the girl in her own bed. It was until maybe five that she got to sleep on Roxy's living room couch.

She wondered how today would turn out. Living on a foreign planet was fun and all but it got awfully annoying when you had to learn the planet's customs on your own. Even worst when you were on an undercover operation. She wondered what time would bring. The bar was going to be definitely closed today and possibly for the rest of the week as its staff tried to pull itself together. Klaus could work for at least several weeks and all the staff at the bar would definitely need some days to cool off.

"Asta." Roxy's small voice punctured through the witch's bubble of awareness.

She looked up immediately. "Yes?"

Roxy stood awkwardly beside the table as if not wanting to disturb her reading. "My father wants to see you."

"Me? Why?"

"I don't know," she said meekly.

"Oh, okay. While we're still here," Asta waved at the cafeteria, "Would you like some coffee? I need another cup anyways. I'm paying."

Roxy agreed with a nod. She looked mindless and tired again with glazed eyes and a red nose. Asta concluded that maybe she should bring her to the warehouse to get her checked by the physician.

A few moments later, Asta entered Klaus's room alone, espresso in hand, with Roxy sitting outside with her own cup of frothy French vanilla cappuccino. Her heels made that delicate _cloppity-clop-clop_ sound on the waxed floors.

"So, you're Asta?" Klaus said. His bed was reclined a little so he sat up.

"Yes. Is something wrong?" She did not bother sitting.

"Very blunt, aren't we? I'm Klaus, manager of the Frutti Music Bar."

"Asta Stryker."

He gave a strange look. "Tell me, who are you?" he said as if suspected something. "You're at there almost every morning for at least a few hours drinking tea and you flirt with my waiters as if you know them. You're too young to be in college. You should be in high school or something still."

"I'm not here to discuss my personal life, sir. What I do on my own time is my business. What do you want?"

"Fine." Klaus was clearly frustrated with her bluntness. "I know that something is up. Those boys are not ordinary exchange students from Greece and I'm suspecting that you're not an ordinary customer either. All of you have taken a particular interest in my Roxy."

"Oh, what would make you think that, sir?" Asta dodged innocently.

"Young lady, I'm not blind. I saw that fight even though I was on the floor. I saw Riven climb through the rafters and I saw you kick those men and throw that knife. Least of all, you treated my wound like it was an everyday occurrence. Tell me what is going on."

"I admit that I have medical training," she said curtly.

"Yes, but since when do college kids know how to treat a bullet wound." Klaus dared the girl to give him an answer.

Asta sighed. There was no point really in hiding it. He was Roxy's after all and had a right to know something. "Fine. Something _is_ going on but that's all I'll tell you."

"I'm her father! I deserve to know what is going on!"

"Sir, don't yell. You'll open the wound."

"As soon as you give me an answer."

"As soon as you're healthy enough, sir. I'll explain as much I can once you're all fixed up," she promised and turned to the door. "It won't do you good to into an apoplexy."

"Please, God…" the man sounded broken and Asta turned to see a slouched man. He had bugged eyes and was sweating profoundly. "Is it the mafia?"

"What are you talking about, old man?" Asta asked, sounding confused. She was part of _a_ mafia but it was nowhere near Earth. Surely, the man was going insane. "I'm not from Sicily. Look at my name. Nowhere near Italian." She knew that much about Italy. Were they that much of a serious threat to these people? She told herself to look into that. "We're not here to take her from you, sir. We're just thinking in her best interest."

Asta turned and left the room. She turned to Roxy who was still looking over her cup of coffee. "Say goodbye to your father, Roxy. We're going to the warehouse."

It was ten minutes later before the girls got into the car and drove off for the wharves.

-

Riven paced back and forth around the warehouse restlessly. He could not sleep at all even though he tried. There was a buzz-like sensation going through him and he itched to do something to put his mind off the last night's events. He reprimanded himself for making minute mistakes.

To be frank, he was shaken.

Guns. Frigging guns. They were frigging everywhere and that included backwater planet Earth.

He had stared down the barrel of one as he disarmed a man and to be blunt, he hated guns. Guns usually meant you had to dive to the ground and hope that you did not get hit. What the hell did he just do?

He was utterly confused and wondered when all of this insanity would end. He ran a hand through his hair and left to go outside. Autumn was slowly encroaching upon the city and he wondered briefly what the seasons looked like on Earth. He walked along the wharves with his hands in his pockets. The air was stale from the sea salt and seagulls could be heard gawking from above. The city was already in full swing as it was the afternoon.

He stopped and took a deep breathe as he turned to lean over the railing of the wharf that overlooked the beach. Behind him, traffic buzzed and people chatted. His mind was still cloudy with thoughts of regrets and fears. What would have happened if the man had gotten him in shoulder? What would have happened if it was anywhere vital? Would he be like Klaus? In the hospital idly resting? Or dying?

Guns were such an ingrown fear to him. In even his oldest memories, there was the sound of gunshots ripping the air. He had grown to ignore them while he grew up but it did not lessen the fear of being shot. He had learned to react differently in Red Fountain. Instead of just ducking and dodging, he also learned to move forward on the aggressor to disarm them.

Still, guns.

Being shot at still shook him a little.

The redhaired specialist found his stomach rumbling and he stumbled into a small traditional grocery to look for something to appease his hungry body. He went up and down the aisles looking at the strange yet familiar foods. Where did he start? He an idea what some vegetables and fruits tasted like but he still was not sure. Fruits, he thought, was the better option.

The store was rather small and rustic or archaic compared to the rest of the city. It was nothing like those mega supermarkets. It had mainly the essentials and most of its vegetables were displayed outside. Most of the fruits were in the inside (which was small, too) and there was a teenage girl about his age stacking pears. She turned to him with a smile.

"Hi!" she said brightly.

"Hi."

The custom in some parts of Italy was usually to not touch the produce for fear of offending the shopkeeper. You were either supposed to tell them what and how much you wanted or they would hand you a bag to serve yourself. Apparently, the girl was not going to give a plastic anytime soon.

He told her his order of two apples and she promptly gave them to him. He turned towards the cash register and got a bottle of soda at the same time. He looked at the shelves behind the register as the girl stepped in to work the cash. It was lined with several brands of cigarettes.

He was tempted to them. It had been a long time since his last smoke. Would he start again?

"A pack of Marlboro Gold, please," he pointed and paid for his purchases. He told him himself 'just in case.' The cashier greeted him goodbye as he stepped out onto the boardwalk. He found a solitary bench and ate.

"Didn't I tell you to sleep? Honestly, it's not hard." At the end of the bench stood a medium high tanned woman with black hair with her hands at her waist. She was the snooty physician who had ordered him to sleep. He felt no worry about her getting mad at him. He vaguely remembered that her name was Chandra. She looked to be about thirty.

"I can't sleep."

"Something that you would like to talk about?" she took it upon herself to sit beside him and stare at the waves with him.

"Not really," he said as he bit into his apple. He found staring at the waves somewhat relaxing.

"Fine, then. I'll start," she said as if to strike a conversation. "My name is Chandra Sri Bisette-Richelieu. I'm a psychologist."

Riven choked on his soda. "You're shitting me? What the hell are you doing acting like a medic then?"

"With medical training! Let me finish!" she dared him. After a moment, "Actually, that's it."

"Riven," he said curtly.

"I already know your last name and where you're from. Don't bother hiding it." She looked rather bored and crossed her arms. "You're illegally travelling the galaxy."

Riven really did not like this woman at all. She knew too much for his comfort and all she was saying was true. He was illegally traveling the galaxy.

"Why can't you sleep?"

He did not answer her.

"Don't make me read your mind and shuffle through your memory 'cause I _can_ do it."

Let the woman read his mind for all he cared if she even could.

He continued to bite at his apple. It was tasteless compared to some that he had eaten in Magix or at home but it satisfied his hunger. He suddenly found himself missing his home terribly. The last time he had gone home was three years ago and that was just a small trip to get some of his stuff to school. He wondered what it briefly looked like now. What did everyone look like?

He briefly saw the perfect cerulean blue ocean with the blinding white sand when it was safe to go outside in his mind's eye.

"Homesick," Chandra noted.

Riven jumped at the statement. This woman was starting to become infuriating.

"I can read minds. I know where you're from and I don't blame you a single bit. After all, it's none of our fault."

"_Our_?" he said suspiciously.

"I have no home on that planet," she said with a hint of sad sarcasm. "My parents were taken away from me from the war, too."

"How do you know anything about me?"

"Name me one person's parents who weren't taken away during the air raids, Riven."

A faint smile pulled at him as he considered the woman's know-it-all attitude.

"What are you then?"

"Pyschai."

"Engel."

Something inside Riven told him that he was going to become friends with this lady.

-

Roxy sat on a stool as Asta tossed her white jacket to the side rummaged through the industrial-sized fridge. The kitchen looked extremely out of place in the high stucco-walled warehouse. Actually, it was probably the stucco walls that made everything not match. The floor was still cement but someone took the liberty to tile the kitchen floor and its surrounding area. It was a mishmash of different styles colliding in the warehouse and she wondered if there would ever be a unified style.

The 'computer' in the middle of the warehouse was a large raised platform with stairs leading up to it. On it was a circle of computers with assorted functions and chairs. Above it was a scary-looking monstrosity of a technological stalagmite that glowed green from assorted slots in the metal. It had a Star Trek kind of feel to it, Roxy thought. It was not as dazzling white or clean like the one in the show but it looked just as awe-inspiring.

Asta began throwing assorted strange foods on the kitchen counter before Roxy and Roxy looked at them curiously.

"So what are you going to do, Roxy?" Asta asked she pulled out a large stew pot and set it on the stove.

For the most part, Roxy had just been following Asta around seeing as she had nothing better to do or even a car to drive so she was thankful for the lift. As for the bar, she was not sure what would happen. It was more than likely that it would close for the rest of the week as everyone tried to recover.

Then there was the Black Circle to deal with and she did not know when they would come back. They still had the White Ring to discuss but what did she know about magic?

"I don't know."

"What did the doctor say?"

"The doctor said that they were going to keep him for a week. They said that healing will take at least three months and he might need a sling."

Asta nodded as she began to peel purple-coloured potatoes. "I'm sure that we can do something about."

Roxy's heart stopped. "Can you?"

"I know some medical applications of magic, Roxy. I've had my occasional bumps and scraps. I'm sure that we won't kill him. Now, about your bar…"

"Oh…I don't know…I think that…"

As if sensing her thoughts, Asta said, "Roxy, you're his daughter. I'm sure you're capable of running the bar for at least a couple of weeks."

"But we'll have to close it for a bit to let the others recover."

"Of course."

"Hey, where are the guys anyways?"

"Sleeping, I hope."

"Sleeping?"

"Forcedly. They encountered unexpected combat and it had them frazzled last night. Technically, Sky should not have been driving you to the hospital last night because something like that makes fighters act drunk from all the adrenaline."

"Oh, and what about you?"

"Same thing."

"So, shouldn't you be sleeping?"

"It doesn't matter. I don't have a day job like Sky so I'm not as concerned. Plus, I slept at your house."

"Oh, you did?!" Roxy blushed. She had assumed that Asta had just gotten there somehow. "Wait, what happened last night?"

"After the fight, we got the specialists to sleep here but I went to the hospital to check on you, Sky and Artos. I dropped the guys here and then went to your place. You have an awful a lot of pixie pets flying around."

Roxy became flushed and started to stare around again. The kitchen that Asta was working in was set up similarly to the one in the bar. There were work counters everywhere, implements hung from the ceiling or under the tables and a large stove and grill side by side under a ventilator. Just beside the kitchen area was a large dining table with mismatched chair.

She wondered, how did a kitchen work with magic? How did everything thing work? Was the same way on Earth? A billion culinary questions bubbled in her mind and she wanted to ask every single one of them.

"What are you making?" she asked excitedly.

Asta quirked an eyebrow at her. "Purple ria stew with bison meat."

"What's a ria?"

"This." Asta held up the purple potato she was peeling to Roxy's face. "It's as hard as stone and just as heavy but once you boil it in water, it's as soft as an Earth potato but much more sweeter. It's very good for throwing it at people when you're mad." She said the last part as if she had experience.

Brandon then loped out of the barracks stretching the kinks out of his back and yawning. "Morning…" he said to Roxy. For a minute he had a blank look on his face as if thinking. "It's not morning is it…?"

"It's almost dinner, you dufus," Asta said snippily as she peeled more rias.

"Really…?"

"Why would I be making stew then?"

"Oh, okay." Brandon shrugged and went behind the counter to rummage in the fridge. He still looked half-asleep.

"So," Asta said, "Would you like to eat dinner with us tonight, Roxy?"

Roxy looked into the simmering pot with the purple rias with a queasy look.

Brandon saw the pink-haired girls face as he pulled out a jug of juice. "I promise you Roxy that it'll taste just like a regular stew. Her cooking's actually good, believe it or not."

The witch threw a good-sized purple ria at the squire. "What do you mean 'believe it or not?!'"

"Ahh! Domestic violence! I'm telling Sky!" Brandon ducked as some of the rias hit him squarely in the stomach. They fell to the ground with a thud.

Roxy snorted at the absurdity of the scene and agreed to stay for dinner.

-

Roxy learned that rias were extremely heavy after peeling two of them. To her right, Asta was peeling more strange vegetables and seasoning huge chunks of what she assumed was bison meat. Brandon rummaged through the fridge still until he plopped a huge stainless steal bowl with a clothe towel over it.

"Roxy, I suggest that you back away," he said as he took off the towel. It was a blob of bread dough. Brandon rolled his hand into a fist and delivered solid punch into the middle of the dough. It deflated instantly and the usual rank smell of yeast ensued. He then started to knead it on a flour counter and making small biscuit-size balls.

"Ewww!" Roxy pinched her nose.

"That was bread?! I thought that was somebody's really bad attempt at Earth-cooking!" Asta yelled in a ironic tone while fanning her hand. She knew very well that it was bread.

The trio fell into a small routine. Asta prepared the meat as Roxy peeled, chopped or slice alien vegetables while Brandon prepared bread.

Asta sipped the stew broth and gave offered it to Roxy. "What do you think if we added some Earth vegetables? I don't think it'll be very bad."

Roxy put her lips to the spoon and found the blackish red viscous liquid sweet but mellow. "Carrots…?" she suggested.

"We have some of those." Asta went through the fridge.

Roxy turned to Brandon. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"What happened with you and Stella?"

"You weren't there, were you?" he said to himself. The specialists face was strained with thought as he kneaded the bread. "I don't know. One day, she's like her usual self and the next, she's mad at me for being near Mitzi. Mitzi gave me a kiss on the cheek to thank me and then Stella got mad at me. After that, I have no idea."

"Oh," Roxy said as Asta passed her the carrots and began peeling them. "I think she's being a little harsh. Mitzi kissed you on the cheek, right? What's wrong with that?"

"Personally," Asta interrupted without turning from the simmering pot, "I think that you can do a lot better," she said obnoxiously.

"Do you two know each other?" Roxy turned to Asta.

"High school," Brandon said.

"I still think you can do better!"

Brandon blew a raspberry to her back. "Anyways…" he sighed. "I want to talk to her but she's always avoiding me."

"Honestly, just corner her in a room and lock the door," Asta suggested with a questionable tone.

Brandon's face became crimson. "Some days…"

"Don't worry. I'm sure she'll come to her senses eventually," Asta reassured. "She'd have to be an idiot of the highest order if she didn't. If not, I'll hit her over the head."

"I'd prefer if you didn't."

"Of course you would."

Brandon rolled more biscuits and then tossed them on a pan heading towards an oven. It was then when the rest of the specialists came out of the barracks. Helia sat on a stool watching the others cook while Sky annoyingly reached over Asta shoulders to see the contents of the stew. Timmy appeared and went to go look at the super computer and Nabu watched with Helia.

Obviously, all of them were used to each other and were indifferent when they bumped into each other. There was a sort of family togetherness feeling as they all wove through the kitchen.

"What's cooking, good lookin'?" Sky said humorously as he sniffed the pot. He was rewarded with an elbow jabbed into his ribs and went off to prepare the table. The guys laughed at him goodheartedly.

Roxy sat with Helia and Nabu. They talked for a bit but avoided last night's events.

"Do you all know each other?" she asked to everyone in general.

"I've known everyone here mostly from high school," Sky said.

"I went to the same high school as Sky but I only knew Asta and Diaspro. I only met Sky after graduation," Brandon said. "Which is ironic because I keep wondering how I never noticed him."

"Who's Diaspro?"

"Sky's ex-fiancée," Asta answered. "Bloom doesn't like her. _Right, Sky?_" She said the last part with acid.

"That's enough, Asta," Sky retaliated with a strained face.

"I'm not the one who lost her, was I?"

"I said '_that's enough,_' Asta."

"Hmph!"

"What happened?" Roxy whispered to Helia.

"It's complicated."

Soon, more than a dozen people sat at the table while Asta served the stew. Some of them were still strangers to Roxy but she made friends with them quickly. Roxy dove into the stew with relish. It really was not that bad. She enjoyed it but her demeanor felt subdued as she ate with the people who risked themselves for her and the rest of the people around the bar. She felt especially awkward talking with Helia remembering as he pushed her to ground to dodge bullet would have surely hit her. Then came the serious business. A woman named Chandra had taken Roxy aside to small separate room that looked like a doctor's office.

Chandra was a nice-looking woman and she had a bossy attitude to her that felt very motherly. She wore simple and plain clothes but she had a regal air about her. She had chin-length black hair and brown skin like Flora. Her eyes were a curious violet that had a knowing gaze in it. She had Roxy sit on a chair.

"First of all, I'm a psychologist, not a psychiatrist," she said. "But I do know what's important. Roxy, I don't want you to watch yourself. Your father has suffered a serious wound but I want you to focus on the positive side. He's alive and he's expected to recover. Don't go around thinking what would have happened if it had been worst. You'll go crazy if you do—!"

Suddenly, there were people screaming outside and the sound of arguing was prevalent. Ceramic was being broken and even heavy thuds could be heard.

"Stay here," she ordered and left the room.

-

"Brandon!!!" Stella wailed as she threw herself at Brandon who was holding a stack of dirty plates.

Brandon dropped the plates causing them to shatter on the floor and the duo fell on the floor. Stella hung on to him from his neck. Without forethought, Brandon used his hand to catch himself on the floor to only meet a shard of crockery that slashed his hand parallel to his fingers.

"Oh Gods, I heard on the radio Brandon and I'm so sorry—!" she screamed, unaware of the mess she had just created.

"Fuck!" Brandon swore as he felt the ceramic dig into his hand. "Stella, get off of me!"

Stella stared at him enraged. "Why you ungrateful little—!"

"Get off of him you dumbass!" Asta pushed Stella off of Brandon. "Merciful Dragon, how do you always keep getting hurt like this Brandon?! Look at this!" Asta said indignantly and roughly pulled the man up to look at the bloody gash in his palm. She dragged him to the kitchen and ran the cold water. "Artos! I need you here with the first aid."

The rest of the Winx girls slowly entered the warehouse with wary and worried looks.

"We heard on the radio about the bar and the robbers and Klaus…" Bloom let the last part hang on. She gave Sky a meaningful look. "Roxy's not at home so we thought that maybe she was here with you guys."

"Klaus's fine," said Sky as he put down a stack of dishes before he was in the same state as Brandon. "Roxy's with Chandra."

"And what about you guys?" Tecna asked clinically as she found Timmy at the computer.

"We're fine except for Brandon, right now."

Stella guiltily fretted over him but Asta told her to bug off as she was getting in the way. Artos appeared with a first aid kit from under the counter and started to disinfect Brandon's hand.

"Mother of…I better be getting a bonus for this," Artos muttered. "Do you mind?!" he asked Stella.

"Sorry…" the blond said meekly.

"Engels' tears, can you people go through one night together without any drama?!" Chandra strode into the middle of the scene fuming. "For college graduates, you act like high school students. I would have expected a lot more maturity from all of you," she reprimanded all of them. "You!" she pointed at Stella. "Sweep that mess up. Don't you dare give me lip, young lady! I know your mother, Luna! She had great expectations of you and you failed her just to live with your ever doting father."

Chandra waved her hands and a set of couches came sliding from around the warehouse to make a circle at where she pointed. "Everyone, clean up and take a seat. We are going to have a nice family discussion about _a lot of things_."

-

Clearly, everyone was confused or angry or both. When Roxy stepped out of the nice lady called Chandra's office, she had found four long couches arranged in a square facing each other. Everyone sat with mixed emotions on their faces and Roxy sat just between Asta and Layla. Obviously, things were not going well with everyone. That was nice and all but it did not seem that Chandra was going to talk about everyone's relationship. Chandra stood on up on a small table for a podium as if she was giving a grand speech.

"All of you have seem to forgotten their purpose for coming to this forsaken planet," Chandra started. "We are here to find the last fairy of Earth and others that might have escaped the Fairy Holocaust. We are here to keep her alive. We are here to eliminate any and all threats that trying to eliminate her or otherwise compromise her state. Those are our three objectives." The psychologist counted on her fingers. "We have accomplished only one task out of three. This is not a vacation. We do not have all year to do this. The longer the Wizards of Black Circle are alive, the more we endanger Roxy."

"What?!" Tecna asked. "How are we endangering her?!"

"Young lady, we are an expanding world. Communications to not only planets but to other galaxies is steadily becoming easier and easier thanks to you and your Zenite technology. You should be proud but remember, as much as technology is good, it can be used for evil as well."

"So you're saying that the wizards are pick up a cell phone to call up their childhood buddies to help them capture Roxy," Stella said sarcastically.

Chandra shrugged, "Why not? Nothing's stopping them. Lots of people have stakes in this."

"What do you mean 'stakes?'" Bloom asked cautiously.

Chandra made a rubbing action with her fingers. "Money, darling. Not everyone is nice. There are corrupt people out there and people would kill to _have_ Roxy, by her choice or not."

"What do you mean 'have?'"

"Slaves, Bloom," Layla answered with a hand at her mouth as if she was going to retch. She backed into her chair, afraid. Nabu put an arm around her but it did not comfort her.

"Exactly my point, Princess," Chandra pointed out. "Roxy is prime real-estate up for grabs. The longer the wizards are alive, the more they can spread the word. Remember what happened to Diaspro when she was eight, Layla? She was kidnapped and on her way to Whisperia. I know that that's what you're thinking about."

Bloom listened intently but Sky's face darkened and was hidden in his hands. "Why'd they kidnap her?"

"Honest to—!" the tanned woman screamed outright. "Can you think for yourself?!" Chandra said exasperated, "Diaspro is the Fairy of Jewels and Gemstones! If she really wanted to, even the Fairy of Gold and Metals! Gold! Freaking gold! I've seen her create gold out of quartz when she was six, young lady. What kind of child has that kind of power? The woman is a walking Philospher's Stone! She could create mountains of emeralds with a whim and a castle out of rubies. Can you imagine how much all that emerald and ruby would cost? A solid mountain of emeralds! A castle made of rubies! Why do you think everyone fusses over her?!"

Bloom became quiet immediately seeing the obvious value of Diaspro's powers.

Roxy listened as much as could understand but found that Chandra was referring to her more as an object than an actual person. She wrapped her arms around herself and hid her head in it. A slave…what would life be? What would they do with her? What would they _to_ her? Diaspro would have been subjected to such treatment. Would they have raped her and treated her no better than an animal? Traded and sold her like an object? Roxy shuddered at the thought and waved it away. Chandra had told her to always look on the positive side.

Bravely, Roxy asked, "What happened to her?"

"We got her back but we had to play with her mind a bit. Anyways, our objective has changed from protecting you Winx girls who were to suppose to _find_ you"—she pointed at Roxy—"to only _protecting _you. We also have our King Sky here but that's the usual. As long as he doesn't throw himself in the line of fire, we're all happy. From now on, we have no obligation to protecting the Winx Club. You've done your part."

"What do you mean 'played' with her mind?" Roxy cut in.

"Modified, altered, changed, implanted false subliminal suggests, whatever you want to think it is, Roxy," Sky said lowly. "They probably did all of it just to keep her unaware of how she could use her powers." Sky's face was wracked with worry and guilt as he spoke. He had kept his head low or hidden for the most part of the discussion.

Bloom gave a helpless look.

"You say that you have no obligation to us?" Tecna asked diplomatically.

"It's exactly that. You're free to leave Earth if you so choose to."

"That's _it_?"

"Yeah," Chandra said nonchalantly.

"That's ridiculous!"

"I know," Chandra seemed to relish the fact. "It's more incentive to leave so that you're not in our way."

"Who told you that?!" Tecna said enraged. "Who gave you those orders?!"

"Eraklyon," Chandra pointed at Sky who was now in serious thought. "I do this out of loyalty to my king."

"B-but…?" Tecna refuted and stared at Sky did the rest of the girls. "What do you mean?"

"It's exactly as she said it. This isn't a mission where we represent the specialists of Red Fountain or the fairies of Alfea. We're graduated so our student passports and temporary citizenship in Magix has expired for most of us. We all went back to our original affiliations with our planets the moment we left Magix last June. Most of us have enlisted in our respective militaries. I am not longer an enlisted specialist of Red Fountain but an air force Lieutenant Colonel and Wing Deputy Commander of all the wings in the 2nd Regiment. That's more than a thousand men and women under my belt if the Regiment's commander falls and the people around me are only one flight out of one wing from the regiment."

Roxy did not understand the military terms that Sky was saying but she understood the gravity of the situation he was in slightly. He had a thousand people to watch yet those people were in charge of watching him. It was a confusing relationship that she did not understand.

"As an Eraklyonite citizen, I have no ties to you people politically except for Bloom who is my fiancée and the future queen of my planet. As an Eraklyonite soldier, I have no obligations to you unless you're in mortal danger. As a person, you are my friends who I would die to protect you."

"That's impossible!" Stella said.

"It's the truth," Timmy said while glancing to the side guiltily. "I'm an Acting Sub-Lieutenant back home the moment all of this is done. The same thing applies to me."

All the guys nodded silently.

"We all have our respective militaries but we're doing this one last mission together because Faragonda, Griffin and Saladin pleaded to the Council in Magix who then requested to our separate planets to withhold our official reenter into the ranks. For all we know, I could be the one who sends Timmy's ship hurdling into the ocean on a battlefield in ten years," Sky said with a hint of irony. "Imagine that."

"Ahh, but you won't know until all of this is over, won't you?" Chandra pointed out from her table-podium.

"But why is everyone here from Eraklyon?" Tecna asked.

"It's because he's the only one of us all capable of rounding up people," Layla answered. She did not look well and Nabu held her tightly. "I have a rank too but it's no better than Timmy's. I can't issue orders unless it's a state of emergency. I don't have three thousand people to do my bidding. All of us have ranks that basically make us junior officers but Sky is a senior officer with enough authority to deploy enough people to start a war. Being king makes it even easier. He kicks our asses, no questions asked."

"And I think that we've boasted enough about our ranks," Chandra quickly wrapped up the subject. "Right now, we need to get rid of the Black Circle asap before it worsens like a bad infection. Next thing we know, we have Yoshinoya and the Wrong Righters on our tail again. We cannot let them catch on that something happened to Klaus or else they will use him against us."

Roxy's heart froze. "Use my dad for what?!"

"They might use him as leverage to get to you. Maybe ransom him for you."

Roxy's heart sunk as she realized that her father was in even more danger than before even with just not having magic.

"We need to inform Klaus as soon as possible but first, he must heal. It'll strain him if we tell him now. Me and him"—Chandra pointed to Sky—"have already arranged a unit just to watching him. We need to find out everything about the Black Circle and somehow find a way to kill them."

"I suspect that that won't be easy considering that they've been alive for at least a thousand years," Nabu said.

"You can work on finding a way then, wizard. Tell us when you find a solution. Lastly, you girls…" Chandra fixed them a serious stare. "Are you going to stay or you going to leave?"

"I'm staying," Flora said with resolve.

Tecna nodded with serious intent. "As am I."

The other girls agreed.

"Fine, but we're not responsible for lost of life or limb. You are responsible for yourself."

It was momentous moment as Roxy realized that these people were doing all of this just to keep her one puny life alive. She fell into tears. She suddenly wished that she was not a fairy.

"I-I don't want to be a fairy, anymore!" she cried.

* * *

**Latter Note:** Oh...a lot happened here.

Who is Lioness?

Klaus thinks that Asta is from the mafia? He knows that something is wrong.

Riven has something against guns and who is Chandra to go and start bossing everyone?

Brandon can bake?

An explanation for Diaspro ditziness even though she is complete moron to us? Is she really that powerful? She needed mental modifying? I wonder why.

By the way, the ranks that I'm refering to are the Canadian kind. I have my books from cadets to explain them but I'll give you a page from Wikipedia to show you the difference in power: http : // en. wikipedia. org/ wiki/ Canadian _Forces _ranks _and _insignia

The only thing that I admit is wrong is the number and power that Sky has. I'm exagerating a little.

Asta here is a little more social to Roxy but not the Winx because of obvious social standings.


	15. Chapter 15

**Verboten  
****Chapter 15**

Sunday, August 30, 2009

**Disclaimer:** I do not own.

**Fore Note:** Okay, this is the beginning of an alternate version of episode nine because Roxy's father is still in the hospital but in the show, he's obviously perfectly fine.

Again, mild swearing.

* * *

Everything came hurdling into one seemingly unsubstantial moment as hundreds of facts speed through her mind. Her father was in danger; the boys were real soldiers; Chandra made it clear that the Winx Club would only get in the way; they had to kill the Wizards of the Black Circle lest they take her. So many facts and motives and hidden agendas. Not only that but the fact that were possibly more people who might be interested in the Roxy and not simply because of her well-being. Some of them wanted her as an object or tool for who knows what.

Being a fairy had been so hard to accept yet the most amazing thing to discover in her entire life. She accepted the danger but she just thought that there was _just_ the Black Circle to deal with. She knew that her father and everyone that she loved would be endangered but to hear in such a methodical and practical tone terrified her. It was as if Klaus being kidnapped would only hinder their plan to Chandra. As if Klaus was expendable. She did not really care about Klaus like Roxy did.

Being a fairy had been the most amazing discovery in her entire life. She had met these amazing people with these extraordinary stories of valor and glory and magic and suddenly, it did not seem as…amazing. Her life was in danger and she was being uprooted from the comfortable life she had once lived. Klaus was never supposed to be in danger just for being weak from a bullet wound. She admitted that a robbery was in all retrospect, a normal thing and getting hurt was a part of life but the weakness that it caused Klaus…it was all her fault. If she had never found out that she was fairy, none of this would be happening.

"I-I don't want to be a fairy, anymore!" she cried.

"That's just too bad, isn't it?" Chandra said pointedly.

Roxy had a hand to her mouth as if she was about to retch. Her heart was painfully clear in her ears and tears blinded her eyesight. "I never asked for this! WHY DID YOU HAVE TO TELL ME I'M A FAIRY?!" Roxy screamed at the top of lungs.

The Winx Club and the boys stared at her helplessly until Asta spoke up.

"Do you think you would have been better off not knowing?" Asta said coolly.

"YES!"

"Really now…?" Asta stood up to full height. She looked regal and imperious with her black corset that accentuated her small waist and full bosom that seamlessly merged with her long dark almost black as midnight jeans. Her hair toppled on top of her head in a delicate spiral of chignons with the loose ends and spikes of her hair making a thorny crown. She grabbed Roxy by her chin and with incredible strength and sharp manicured nails until she was almost standing up. Then she slapped right across the face.

"If we had never told you that you were a fairy, not far down the road, you might have killed your own father by accident, you ungrateful child! Is that what you want?! _Your father dead from your hands!_" Asta's voice reverberated through the warehouse. "I know that Helia taught you the concept of magical overdose so listen to me and think about it carefully. If you had gotten so angry at your father one day for some little reason like not liking the way you dressed or the colour you dyed your hair, you might have overdosed on magic from your anger and if you did not know how to control your magic, instead of magically amplifying your voice, you might've done something even more dangerous that could have killed your father. Maybe hit him with a blast of energy straight to the chest and stopped his heart. Is that what you prefer? A life where you could accidentally kill your own father just out of anger like a little child?!"

"N-no!" Roxy sobbed. Asta's dug in her chin and cheeks painfully but the realization that she put upon her was even more painful. She could have killed her own father so many times in her lifetime already and it was just luck that he was still alive. She recalled every time she never got a toy that she wanted, every time she called him a bastard, every time complained she needed him to be there for her when he had work to do.

Asta stared straight into Roxy's teary eyes. The witch's voice was very soft and motherly when she spoke. "You are very lucky to be who you are, Roxy. Very lucky. I promise you that. You have so much more potential than these fairies around us. You have a lot of potential to do the universe a lot of good but you have to be willing to take in not just the good but the bad as well because magic is neither good nor bad. It is what you make of it but if you act like an ungrateful little child, you are no better than some of these girls." Asta let go of Roxy and waved her arm at the Winx Club.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Stella said indignantly.

"It is as I said." Asta turned back to Roxy. "As a fairy, you have a duty to do your very best for the universe. As a person, you have every right to accept or not accept your magic. You can learn and control your magic and never let harm fall upon your father if follow either path. It is either learn magic and vow to never use it again or learn magic and use it to do what you think is right in the universe. Those are your choices. Either way, you will have to learn magic."

-

It was several days later since Asta's laid down Roxy's choices. She was thankful for the slap in the face although it did hurt very much. The bar had reopened just a day ago after dealing with the insurance and the authorities but it was only the small parts like the café and dining area that were open. The alcohol bar had remained closed much to the dismay of customers but more out of Klaus's sake. It was not right without him behind the counter nor would he have wanted Roxy to start serving alcoholic beverages without his watchful eye. Klaus was still in the hospital and Roxy visited him everyday thanks to Asta who drove her there every afternoon. Klaus was noticeably uneasy in Asta's presence, Roxy noticed after a several visits. She asked about it.

"Why doesn't my dad like you?"

Asta was busy driving the same car. It seemed that Sky had given her almost permanent ownership while they were on Earth. They swerve in and out of traffic as they tried to get to the boulevard on which the Frutti Music Bar was located. A ringing ambulance came into view and Asta moved to another lane to give it the right of way.

"It's been like that since the first time we visited. He thinks that I'm part of the mafia. I told him that I wasn't but he doesn't believe me. He knows that we, as in he thinks the guys are in it too, have an interest in you."

Roxy was silent as she contemplated it. "Isn't it better if told him then if he knows that much?"

"Yes, but he's healing. A gunshot takes at least three months to heal depending on where he was hit. You know that his clavicle is shattered and the muscle was torn. At the rate that hospitals work on Earth, it'll take him a year at least to get back to normal. He'll wear a sling and have to do some therapy to get rid of the atrophy and the muscle has to attach to the bone properly. He'll be visiting them a lot to make sure everything is in the right place. Artos could do something to make it go faster but it's just as dangerous. It's all very complicated. Just be there for him and help him around and let me and the rest of us take care of it."

The biological terms flitted in and out of Roxy's mind as she tried to grasp what Asta was saying.

"Your father told me to beware of 'those boys' girlfriends.' He says that the boys are good men by he doesn't trust the girls."

Roxy remembered her father's speech the night he was hurt. He had accused of shady business but she knew inside that he was doing it to keep her safe. "Oh! It's because of—"

"I know already. You don't need to explain it to me, Roxy."

"Wha…?"

"You don't want to know," Asta said ominously as she turned left.

"Magic?"

"That's up to you."

Silence fell upon the girls as Roxy took to staring out the window again. Nothing was the same anymore. Asta was the strangest yet nicest and most sympathetic person she had met yet. She told her things the way they were and was frighteningly blunt about it. She was mean in own sense but not because she was spiteful or hated anyone. She was in a mess of own with the Winx Club who apparently hated witches by creed.

"Hey, um, if you don't mind me asking…why doesn't Bloom like you or why don't you like the Winx girls? You don't need to answer if you want to—"

"I'll tell you. It's very complicated but you've heard about their…_adventures_, right?" Asta said rather sourly.

Roxy nodded.

"People have a tendency of looking at things at face value. Now, that's not a bad thing entirely but it has its faults. The Trix are witches of Cloud Tower and they wanted to rule the universe. They failed and got captured. Simple, enough. The next year, some idiot decided to reawaken Darkar, a being just as powerful as Bloom and born from the Shadowfire. It's one those forces like Bloom's Dragonfire. Darkar broke out the Trix and used them as his minions. Remember, they are witches working with one of the evilest forces on the planet. He wanted to get into the forbidden realm of Realix."

"What's Realix?"

"I can't tell you that because I'm not sure. I'm curious about it myself," Asta stopped and sipped her tea, "As I was saying, Bloom had gone to the dark side for a moment but that was narrowly avoided by Sky saying he loved her and brought back to her senses—which is really strange to say the least and extremely cheesy." Asta did find the last part in the least bit funny. "They defeated Darkar and left him in Realix but the witches escaped to only be captured and sent to Omega. You know what Omega is, right?"

"Yeah, a planet where they freeze their prisoners."

"Something on Omega happened because another idiot, it seems like the universe is filled with them, decided to defrost Valtor and he somehow got the witches to join him in his schemes. By the way, Valtor is a wizard created by the three Ancestral Witches of the Trix using the Dragonfire or gene material of the Royal Family of Sparks as some rumours go. Again, the Trix who are witches are in another nefarious plot to conquer the universe. It's always been like that. Three years in a row, the Trix come back to try and conquer the universe. I love their dedication to their cause and their never-ending determination but the fact that they _always_ keep coming back puts witches in bad light. It's even worst when it's a bunch of fairies who beat them consecutively." Asta searched Roxy's face for comprehension while she drove. Roxy herself had a hard time understanding the concept.

"Damn, I know that I'm not explaining this right…it's like racism by skin colour that you have on Earth. You Italians repeatedly see dark skinned people as some type of social I-don't-know… Infection, maybe? You seem to see black people as danger when they enter some public establishment depending on how they dress. I hear that it's because of gang violence on the street but _I_ know that not every black person is involved in gang violence because that would be ridiculous—"

Roxy cut in suddenly understanding. "We assume that since we see black people doing gang violence, we assume that all black people are violent?" she suggested. It really was a simple theory. How did she not see that before?

"Exactly."

"Well, you're not exactly proving that you're better than that if you keep hating Stella," she quipped.

"I don't like Stella by reputation, Roxy. I didn't need to meet her to say that I don't like her."

"Oh…how come?"

"Roxy, you're surrounded by at least four fairy princesses. Bloom, Stella, Layla and Tecna."

"Tecna's a princess?"

"Yes, but it's only a title. Anyone can be a princess. She's more of a daughter of a really good politician who happens to be a duke. Bloom is not someone that you want as a role model and Stella is even worst. I'd prefer Tecna and Layla. Point is that it always has been a fairy-witch conflict ever since Bloom came stumbling in. No, that's wrong." Asta took a long moment to think and concentrate on driving. "The conflict has always been there. It's just that Bloom brought it to the spotlight and put fairies in favour. Wizards have it easier because it's the whole gender thing that makes everything complicated. Plus, it's still a biased and archaic society. I don't like it but I have to live it. If I have to work with the Winx Club because my king says so, I will grudgingly do it. I can complain but I have to do it."

"I…I'm so sorry." Roxy looked to the side. Suddenly, Asta started to sound like those helpless students of the Freedom Writers. Living in a strange sort of world with such strange forms of racism and doing what you can to live. The magical world was obviously not the utopia she had suspected but then why was she hoping for it to be? "Why do you have to do it?"

"Because the military is the only safe and respectable place for someone like me to have a job, first of all. I need money to live. I've know Sky since we were babies and I thank him for everything that he has done for me. If he asks me to do something, I will do it no questions asked because I owe him a lot. Obviously, I don't treat him too well sometimes but we always discuss it afterwards. I went into the military the year I graduated with Sky and I wanted to go to university in Magix to take advantage of the plan that military had offered me. The year Valtor was taken down, I dropped out of my five-year plan because I was in danger of getting stalked and beaten in the streets. I went back to Eraklyon and completed the military college instead. It's not what I wanted but it was the safest thing to do then."

"But that's not right! Aren't there laws and rights in Magix?"

"Roxy, Magix is the center of trade and commerce for this part of the galaxy. Meaning that a lot of planets have embassies in the city. The problem lies in the fact that planets run differently from one to another and their laws can coincide and cause conflict. The Realm of Tides might have this law against chlorinating water because mermaids consider water their home and it would have disastrous genetic consequences but here on Earth, or Italy at least, your water is _so_ chlorinated that we have to either drink bottled water at the warehouse or filter it ourselves. Now, this also affects the rights of mermaids because water is air to them. We're cautious of polluting air because we _need_ air. Mermaids are cautious of polluting water because they _need_ water. Get what I mean?"

"But you said that they were going to _beat _you?!"

"Beat me, not kill me. There's a difference."

"WHAT?!" Roxy's eyes widen in horror. She swallowed hard.

"It's exactly that. There are laws for killing but there are no laws against hurting me, mentally. Or physically, in some cases because of my sex or my heritage. It all depends on where it happens anyways. Like it or not, it would have been me to kill them if it had escalated. I'm the soldier. The people after me were only civilians enjoying the thrill of chasing witches since it's a national pass time now. Either way, it would have never worked out. The law in Magix is a skeleton compared to your United Nations' charters here on Earth."

"I'm so so so so sorry…" Roxy sobbed. She felt tears threaten to fall from her eyes. "I didn't know and I…"

"It's fine, Roxy. I can finish my degree another time. Right now, _you_ are my priority."

"But that's not fair!"

Asta parked the car in front of the bar and turned off the engine. "Nothing's fair in life. Now, you have to go work at the bar. We both have jobs to do."

Ten minutes later, Roxy started her shift. The bar was in a rather subdued mood seeing as all the customers had heard about the incident on the news. Quite a few regular patrons dropped Roxy a word or two or even a get-well card and small bouquet for her father. Asta had presumable left to the warehouse because if it would be strange if she stayed at the bar _all_ day like had no life. In her place, the painfully short Artos sat on a stool at the counter drinking a soda.

"What's up?" he asked casually. He stirred his soda with a straw.

"I have to ask," Roxy said while wiping a glass, "but how old are you?" As a last minute thought at his appearance, she tossed in, "Are you albino?"

Artos was, after taking a close inspection of the boy, almost ethnically Japanese or some type of Asian just by facial features. He had shock-white hair and red eyes. He dressed like an Asian rocker or J-pop artist of sorts with their wildly spiked hair and creative clothes. He wore carefully ripped jeans with chains and loose suspenders about his waist and a black graphic t-shirt. He also wore studded wristbands and fingerless gloves.

"Why does my age matter?" he asked back.

"Well, you're in military, aren't you?"

"Yeah."

"Aren't you a little young to be in the military?"

Artos gave her a confused look. "I joined the military when I was ten as a cadet. You realize that things are not run the same way in Eraklyon as it is on Earth, Roxy. There are differences, no doubt. Is it so strange for you to see me like this?"

"Well, yeah. Don't you find it wrong? You're younger than me, almost." She placed a glass under the counter and began to wipe another.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Don't get the wrong idea. Roxy, it's not as if I did it unwillingly. I just found that I had better chances if I joined the academy rather than regular school. I never actually went into battle if that's what you're thinking. It's just a school run by the government rather than the city."

"Oh."

"Roxy, I'm fifteen. I'm training to be a doctor under Chandra right now to get a feel for the psychology of everything."

Roxy froze. On Earth, normally one did not do that until they had graduated university with several degrees accompanied by old age. There went her veterinarian career. "Already?!"

"Yeah," Artos said like it was an everyday occurrence for his age.

"Y'know what? Forget that I even asked. Let's talk about something else. My head hurts from the idea."

"Roxy!" Stella squealed as she placed her bag on the counter. The rest of the Winx Club followed suite while Roxy's eyes widened in horror. She looked to the nearest guy which happened to be Nabu who quirked his eyes. She was in trouble.

-

Asta sat on the slanted and rusted roof of the warehouse and let the wind run by her. She let her knee-length hair loose and ran a hand through it. Birds had roosted on it before but she did care very much. They had as more rights to be up there than her. Right now, there were a dozen crows dozing on the roof about her. She was wearing short shorts and a t-shirt again and took on the appearance of a teenager.

Her plans for Roxy were working better than she had suspected but that was fine. Helia was in charge of that. Nothing major would be happening in those schemes and so she put that out of her mind for now.

"Would you like to explain yourself?" Sky gracefully leapt onto the roof and Asta glared at him. "I'm not going away, lieutenant." Sky wore a blank but determined face.

"Fuck off, mutt. It's none of your business."

Sky brushed off the insult. "Asta, you know why I'm here. I know that you did not join this mission without certain conditions."

Asta stared at him arrogantly from her seat on the roof.

"_Dijana,_" he warned.

"Go away."

"Not until you tell what the in the world is wrong with you, Dijana." Sky did not plan on moving from his spot as he planted his hands in his pockets.

"It has nothing to do with you."

"Bullshit," Sky gritted out. "Tell me now before I force it out of you."

"Are you going to hit me?" Asta cooed acidly.

"If I have to. I have much more effective ways than physical violence. You are far less delicate than Bloom."

Asta muttered something under her breath.

"Is that what this is again? You don't like Bloom? That's just too bad, Dijana. You made this clear for four years and I'm sick of listening to you like this."

"She's not worth the trouble she caused."

"You can think that all you want but you know she did nothing to merit your anger."

"And if you had never met her, none of this would have happened!" Asta screeched. "I would have completed my degree! I never had to watch my back before she came along! I could have been a teacher or a fashion model or a forensic scientist like I wanted before!" She stood up and waved her arms around her frustrated. "Least of all…least of all—"

"Least of all what, Dijana?! Are you saying that everything is my fault?"

"_Yes!_ If you didn't have to go and preach undying love to her in Shadowhaunt, none of this would have happened!"

"Is that what you really think?" Sky said in a clear and cool tone, almost remorseful.

"YES!" she screeched at the top of her lungs. Asta's shoulders trembled as tears began to softly fall down her face. "I would still have my best friend, at least," she sobbed.

Sky looked at her with unreadable eyes. "Asta, I have a shift that starts in twenty minutes. I'm going." The wind rustled about them gently as he turned.

"Your father is coming," she said in between sobs.

"How do you know?" he asked. He stopped and turned his head to listen.

"I heard him on the wind… He's on Earth already. He's not happy."

"As usual."

"He's looking for the seal."

"Of course. I hope he realizes that I have the fake." Sky leapt off the roof's edge.

* * *

**Latter Note:** Due the length of this note, it has been moved to my forum, in the thread Verboten Rants.


	16. Chapter 16 Nebula

**Verboten  
Chapter 16**

Friday, September 4, 2009

**Disclaimer:** I do not own.

**Fore Note:** To be blunt, Roxy is being a *beep* to Andy. Or to everyone in general. Sorry.

* * *

Roxy hands curled into delicate fists as she saw the Winx Club line up her counter. He father had told her that he did not want to see or hear them at his bar again. The boys would tell him even if he was not here undoubtedly. They were just that loyal. She looked at all the guys around the bar who gave her questioning looks. Brandon's clearly said do something.

"Roxy, we have great news!" Stella babbled on. "Musa's going to do a demo with this famous Earth music company! Isn't that great?! She's going to be famous!"

"Eh, eh, eh…" Roxy plastered on a plastic smile. She knew that Musa's voice was good enough but the fact that her father had banned the Winx Club from the bar and the boys knew about it made it extremely awkward. "Congratulations, Musa!" Roxy said to Musa who was already fidgeting with a microphone for an impromptu concert with Andy's band.

"You're not happy?" Stella said plainly with a worried face.

"No, it's not that…it's just…um…" Goddamn, Andy! It looked like he was the one who invited them over. Technically, Andy played at the bar often enough to be considered part of the family but he still did not officially work at the bar like the specialists or her. In short, Andy was unaware of Roxy's punishment.

It was not as if Roxy did not like the Winx Club entirely. She liked them enough but at the same time, she did not want to disappoint her father and break his rules. After all, she loved him. She did not want to create a bigger rift between them. He was all she had for family besides Artu and the other pixie pets. Roxy struggled under Stella's gaze and went off into kitchen leaving Stella with a confused look on her face.

Off in another corner of the bar, Bloom wondered about the tables looking for her fiancé. She found him in the far end near the stage walking away from several tables.

It had taken her almost a week to realize it but she was being stupid. After what Sky had said had sunk in, she realized that she was being very stupid. He was right. She could not go about screaming about like that and Asta was just as right about her accusations. Although she did appreciate the slap at the time, the impact had faded over time but it still stung. She caught up to him and tentatively spoke, "Sky?"

"Yes?" he said in his usual voice. He sounded irritated for some reason. He picked up some empty glasses from a vacant table.

"Are you okay?" she started. That was definitely the wrong question, she thought.

"Absolutely fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Bloom, don't skirt the issue. Be blunt and very direct. My kingdom has no patience for subtle games of intrigue," he advised as he walked about.

Bloom silently followed him around the bar. "I'm sorry."

"That's fine. You still have to learn."

"No! I mean I'm sorry about the fireball!" Bloom said panicked. "I didn't mean to throw it at you and I was…omigod, Sky, I could have _killed_ you!"

"I'm not that easy to kill, Bloom," he assured casually while precariously balancing a stack of dishes on his arm.

"But still!"

"Bloom, can we talk about this later? I just started working. I promise I'll talk to you later."

Bloom was about to rebuttal but instead said, "Promise?" It was in a small quiet voice. He was being frighteningly easy to talk and gentle as well.

"I promise."

Sky stepped into the kitchen and placed his tray of dirty dishes on counter. What was he going to tell Klaus about the girls? he thought with a worried look. At least, Bloom was doing something to make up for her mistakes. Not that he did referring to it as her fault but it truly was.

-

"Andy!" Roxy whispered from her corner on the stage. She was hidden behind a curtain and large speaker. She waved him over and motioned for him to approach.

"Yo, Roxy. What's up?"

"You dumbass!" Roxy said harshly. Perhaps she said with a little too much malice than was necessary but she was under a lot of stress. Andy seemed to be her unknowing vent. "Why did you bring them over?!"

"Whoa, what's with the anger, Roxy?" he waved his hands in defense with wide eyes.

"Why did you bring Bloom, Stella and all those other girls?!" she seethed. It was not fair. Why could she not explain to her father that she was a fairy now? Then she would not have to go through all this trouble of explaining to Andy her punishment.

"We're only here to celebrate Musa's demo."

"But Dad doesn't want them in this bar!"

Andy's face straightened as he realized the seriousness in her tone. "Wait, why?"

"Because he doesn't trust them, Andy! Just don't ask, okay? It's all very complicated."

"But Bloom is the nicest person on Earth," he defended.

"Just don't ask questions, Andy. You don't work at this bar! Bloom and her friends are customers that Dad doesn't like. He's the one who signs your check. Deal with it."

Andy raised his voice. "Well, tell _them_! Not _me_! I didn't know anything about this, Roxy."

"I will! I'm just letting you know," she hissed.

"Geesh, calm you hormones!"

"You know what, Andy?! _Shut up!_"

Roxy sauntered off back to her bar with a thunderstorm over her head leaving a confused guitarist in its wake. Andy's remark had definitely gone too far in her mind. Maybe it was her hormones and she was being insensibly about the way her life had turned out but she was definitely not taking that remark about her hormones lightly.

"What's wrong with her?" Musa asked with a weird look.

"God, I don't know!" Andy raised his eyes towards the sky for an answer. "_Girls_," he muttered under his breath.

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing."

They both shrugged and went back to setting up the equipment.

Roxy threw herself into a secluded corner of the bar in one of the booths and hid her head in her hands. She just wanted to _scream_! Why were people being so difficult with her? Life was not fair anymore. Magic was great and all but why did her life have to be in danger?! Was it too much to ask?

"Roxy?"

Roxy gave a dangerous look at the person who called her name. She made quite clear on her face that she did not want to be spoken too. Bloom's smiling face faltered.

Bloom was the source of all Asta's troubles. The Trix were the source of all of Bloom's troubles. The Trix were in the end the source of all of everyone's troubles. But Bloom was the one who had to make it very clear that _witches_ would never prevail. How could she face her knowing what she had unwittingly done to Asta's life?

"Roxy, can I talk to you?" Bloom took it upon herself to seat across from the new fairy. "I know that everything hasn't easy in the last couple of weeks ever since we came crashing into your life. I'm really sorry about what happened to your father, I really am and all the trouble that we might have caused and everything. I don't know how to describe everything that you might have felt since we came along. We didn't mean to put your life in danger with the wizards and all. It just happened like that. The wizards first came after me and we realized that…" Bloom paused as she took in Roxy's unwilling attitude to participate in the conversation. "…you don't like, don't you?"

"No."

Bloom's shoulders slumped and put on an offended face. "Why? What the hell did I do?" Bloom said innocently.

Roxy gave her a belligerent look, unwilling to answer.

The fire fairy thought for a moment and it seemed that a light bulb lit behind her eyes. "Okay, let me try this again. I know that you might have heard some things from Asta that don't make me sound like a good person. She's a witch, after all and I—"

"Excuse me?! That's your best excuse?!" Roxy stood up indignantly. It was the blame game all over again except Bloom was playing it in her favor. "What is this stupidity about being a witch or a fairy?! It's all your fault that she couldn't finish school!"

"Roxy, what are you talking about?" Bloom backed away from the fuming girl. "I didn't do anything. I swear that this is the first time I've ever met Asta."

"I'm not listening to this." Roxy turned towards the bar.

"Wait, Roxy!" Bloom pulled out a familiar white hoop from her purse and shoved this into Roxy's hands. "Look. I don't know what's going on with Asta and I didn't mean to offend you because I see that you don't want to talk to me anymore but at least take this," she said rapidly. "It belongs to you, since you're the last fairy of Earth."

Roxy roughly took it out of Bloom's hands and stormed to her room.

-

Chandra was idly typing away on her laptop when the succeeded king of Eraklyon stepped into the warehouse accompanied by his retinue of guards with their gleaming poleaxes. The king was a burly bearded man with dark hair, wearing a red doublet and jerkin and white breeches.

"My Lord," Chandra said respectfully while not looking away from her laptop. She sat on a couch while construction of the super computer went on. King Erendor looked at the fantastic structure with an approving gaze.

"Lieutenant Colonel Richelieu. As usual, you're not one to turn from work," he noted.

She stopped typing for the smallest of seconds. "Of course. Would you like me to stop?"

"No, continue. I have come to personally deliver the items that Sky requested."

"He is not here, my Lord."

"Yes, yes, working at a bar, I hear. Has there ever been a planet that did not serve alcohol?" Erendor said the last part to himself in a pitying manner.

"Is it safe for you to leave them here or should I go and get your son?"

"It's a bit of both." The rotund man waved his hand in the air and suddenly, a yellow envelope appeared. "These are the last pieces for the computer." He handed her the envelope.

"I'll take your word for it." She dropped the envelope in the empty couch spot beside her.

"You're not curious about what's inside?" The man quirked an eye.

"I don't really want to start caring, actually. I might get too curious. As they say, curiosity killed many things."

"Of course."

Erendor turned and left the warehouse intent on speaking to his son.

-

Roxy slammed the door opened and threw the White Circle at the wall making a metallic chinking sound. Artu whined and ran when he saw the ring towards him as did the other pixie pets. She let out a guttural sound and punched the wall hard. The Earth fairy laid her head on the cool wall.

Life was not fair anymore. Andy was a dumbass. Bloom was so freaking stupid. Stella was just annoying. Asta was a bitch (a nice one at times). Her father was in her the hospital. Where the hell was her life going?!

She fell to her knees as she felt tears fill her eyes again. Tears. Always tears. Would it ever end? Why was she always crying? She was so pathetic. Everything that happened always brought her to tears. She was stronger than this. People would laugh at her if they ever knew what was happening to her. Laugh at her for being so weak. No one understood what she was going through. No one did. Her life was whizzing by her faster than she could keep up with it.

Why? Why? _Why?_

Why did she have to be the last fairy of Earth?

The Wizards of the Black Circle.

_"Roxy,"_ the voice cooed gently.

The White Circle glowed and hummed gently on the floor.

_"Roxy, listen to me."_

Roxy turned and stared at the object afraid.

_"Roxy, help us," _it begged. There was the myriad of voices, each begging for escape from the ring.

"Hello?" Roxy picked up the ring. It was warm in her hands and glowed blinding white.

The maternal voice got stronger and Roxy felt anger pour out of the object with a white hot intensity. _"Set me free, Roxy. Nebula has been locked in here for too long. I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE!"_

Roxy tried to throw the ring away from her as it began to burn but her body refused to let go of it. Angry energy poured from the ring and into the girl. White started to fill Roxy's vision as she felt her refuse to let go of the ring.

The bloodstain fields with dismembered body parts came back and the hunting fairy specter floated over the battlefields towards her. _"Give me your body, Roxy. Nebula will have her revenge on the Black Circle."_

"No! What's going on?!" Roxy yelled but then her vision blurred into darkness.

_"It's useless to resist, Roxy. Don't fight it. Nebula will have her revenge."_

As a ditch effort to do something, Roxy screamed at the top of her lungs before the darkness took over and she went into a deep sleep in the corners of her mind.

_"Nebula is alive! I will finally have my revenge!"_

-

It was the strangest of things yet to happen at the Frutti Music Bar. Really, it was. Musa was at the end of a ballad when the succeeded king of Eraklyon stepped into the bar in all his finery with his retinue of guards. The Winx Club approached him at the entrance of the bar lest he caused a commotion further in.

"So, Bloom," Erendor said casually, "Where is my son? How is your relationship going?"

Bloom curled her hands into fists. "He is…um, where do I start? Things are a little bumpy, right now with the mission and all."

Erendor listened intently to every word. "Yes, do go on." He scrutinized her carefully, looking for mistakes.

She fidgeted under his gaze until Stella seemed to have a fainting spell or quick passing headache. "We have to go," the blond princess said all of a sudden. "Something's wrong. I sense negative energy in the bar."

"Stella, what are you talking about?" Bloom asked confused but thankful for the distraction.

"I think Roxy's in trouble. Her energy is so strong and dark."

"It's not Asta?" Tecna asked while checking on her PDA.

"No, it's a fairy's energy."

Bloom stared at Erendor nervously. "I'm sorry, my Lord but I must go and attend to an important matter."

Bloom took this chance to escape by looking worriedly around the bar trying to sense Roxy's presence. They searched every corner and even in Roxy's personal playroom until they caught up with Musa who had finished her concert. Musa was about to grab Roxy's arm until, of all things, the Earth fairy flew into the air apparently intent on going somewhere with the glowing White Circle in her hand.

* * *

**Latter Note:** Is this the start of Sky and Bloom's reconciliation? Why is Sky's father Erendor on Earth? What was that package? And lastly, is Roxy possessed? Le *gasp*!

Okay, yes I know. The last couple hundred words with spiel about how Stella senses that something is wrong with Roxy is from out the whazoo but that's what really happens in the show. Next, a close encounter with the Wizards of the Black Circle!


	17. Chapter 17

**Verboten  
****Chapter 17**

Monday, September 07, 2009

**Disclaimer:** I do not own.

**Fore Note:** I have to say that a lot of consideration went into this chapter.

God, I'm pushing it with the ratings.

WARNING: blood?

* * *

Helia almost dropped his tray of smoothies when he heard a faint scream emanate from down the hallway to the storage room and Roxy's room. He set down the tray on a counter and went to go find out about the scream. It had not been a girlish high-pitched scream but the scream of woman in deep agonizing pain. He briefly wondered if Asta had surreptitiously forgotten to inform him of any sudden changes to the plan.

He was about to knock on Roxy's door when the door itself opened suddenly to an angry and glowing Roxy. The air was permeated with a deep negative emanating emotion that it almost made Helia choke and start coughing. The feeling was so strong and black and bottomless like he was drowning. Helia recognized killing intent in the air immediately and hoped to the heavens that he was not the target.

"Roxy, did something happen?" Helia asked with genuine concern.

Roxy raised a hand and Helia found himself flying into the wall behind him and falling limply to the ground. He groaned as Roxy walked away with that negative storm of emotion trailing her.

"Good gods, she's improved quite a bit," he said to himself. He supposed that now was a good time to inform Asta of this new development and pulled out his cell phone.

-

Roxy awoke to find herself in the middle of the wasteland. The air was arid and grassless flatland surrounded her for miles. She curled into a ball with her head in her knees hopifng that everything was a bad dream. She felt something rub itself against her thighs and found the kitten Lioness had given purring against her ankles.

"You?" Roxy said wearily and picked up the kitten. "What is going on, kitty cat?" she asked even though the kitten would not answer. She petted him but more to comfort herself than the cat. The kitten mewled in pleasure all the same. "Where am I now? Is that lady going to come back again?"

She looked around at the miles of desert. There were mountains in the distance and sky was devoid of clouds. The heat was bearable but just so.

"You ungrateful good for nothing child!" a voice screamed shrilly. The sky began to darken with black clouds and bolts of purple lightning all of a sudden. "How do you expect to save us if you do not do anything?! Anger and fury must guide you if you ever hope to achieve anything! ANGER!" it echoed.

The same fairy specter appeared just before Roxy floating lazily in the air. Its grey claw-like hands were motionless but the white dress it wore fluttered in a nonexistence wind. Its oily black hair floated around a pair of sharp glowing red eyes often obscuring its facial features. Its barbed yellow wings were riddled with holes as if it were decaying from a parasite.

Roxy backed away from the being in fright while clutching the kitten to her chest. "W-who are you…?" she asked terrified.

"I am Nebula, worthless child. You are entrusted with the task of saving us but you are not willing to make the sacrifices necessary. What has our people become?!"

"_That is enough, Nebula. She is, as you said, only a child."_

Roxy almost collapsed in relief and fright at the same time as another voice entered the conversation. It was the same voice who asked her if she was willing to accept her changes. It suddenly occurred to her that perhaps this haunting specter and the companion were not one but two completely different entities. Then who was Lioness?

"Idiocy. She is old enough to be married and have children already!"

"_The Earth has changed significantly in the last thousand years, Nebula. Customs have changed."_

Frustrated and just as terrifying, the specter screamed to the sky. "Show yourself, you coward! I will not converse with a faceless voice."

"_As you wish."_

In the distance, a dust storm picked up and came charging at Roxy and the specter, Nebula. It was so thick that it obscured the view of the mountains in the distance. The storm surrounded them until it coalesced into a single sandy cloud to Roxy's right. A woman stepped out of the storm and it died immediately at her feet. The woman wore a red off-the-shoulders dress with long sleeves and a silver circlet with a web of silver chains and sapphires over a solid white veil that obscured her eyes completely. She had long hair red as blood and alabaster skin.

Roxy got the air of a catholic nun or a saint by the way the woman dressed and held herself regally. The only thing that betrayed any sign of age was the woman's lips that held a faint youthfulness. At the moment, the woman's mouth was formed in a tight line that said that she was not pleased at all.

"Who are you?!" Nebula screeched.

"_How can you not recognize me, Nebula?"_ she said ominously.

"NO! NO! NO!" the specter screamed and back away from the red-haired woman in horror.

"_You displease me, Nebula,"_ the veiled woman said calmly. _"Has your desire for revenge outweighed your common sense?"_

The specter screamed shrilly as if it were in pain from just seeing the woman's presence, completely ignoring what the woman had said. The woman remained completely silent and still as the specter went on in a triad repeating the same thing over and over again. "I will have my revenge! Nebula cannot be stopped!"

"_That is enough, Nebula. You've said your share."_

The specter did not stop screaming and instead launched itself at the red-haired woman, classically going for her neck. Roxy watched in horror as the saintly woman raised a defiant hand to the specter's face. In the same moment, a white light burst from the woman's hand and it blasted the specter back with incredible power. Roxy felt the power wave blow in wind her face and she held her kitten tightly.

The specter hit the ground and bounced several times before it came sliding to a stop some distance. It had the body of a frail grey woman and it tried to get up on bony arms.

"_Wake up, Nebula. Listen to yourself. How do you expect an untrained fairy to release you from your prison?"_ the woman said with startling seriousness._ "She's better off killing herself than attempting that. Leave her mind at once and come back when she is ready."_

"How dare you?! You dare to hit Nebula?! Nebula will have her revenge whether she is ready or not! I will have your body, child," the fairy specter said to Roxy with terrifying conviction. "AND I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE!" The specter began to laugh manically with a single-mindedness that made Roxy want to run away. The specter's laugh echoed through the desert and its frail body melted into shadows on the ground.

Roxy looked at the veiled woman and there was a grim seriousness about her.

And then there was the consuming darkness again.

-

REVENGE, REVENGE, REVENGE!

That was all that matter to Nebula as she flew within the pink-haired child's body over a strange stone city. The White Circle guided her over the bizarre sight until she caught whiff of salt water and the accompanying unsavoury odours. The annoying veiled hag had not prevailed after all. She had control of the child's body and as long as she had a body and the White Circle, she could carry out her revenge. Nebula relished in glory at the simplicity of her foolproof plan.

She would kill the Wizards of the Black Circle and avenge her race.

The White Circle glowed purple in her hands as she poured herself from out the ring into the child's body. She flew over peculiarly large buildings made of metal and stone. Something inside her called to her to the ocean and to a specific warehouse where she knew she would find the wizards. Something told her for sure that she would find them. Whether it was a trap or not, she did not care.

She flew into a certain metal building with wide doors to find the wizards casually lounging about. She recognized them immediately despite their strange clothes.

Nebula flew at him first and smote him with the White Circle and sent him flying from the sheer magical force that the ring emitted. She landed and took a strong stance.

"This ends here, Fairy Hunters," she yelled defiantly in her bloodlust.

A seething burning hated engulfed Nebula as Ogron stepped forward and spoke. "You were right, Gantlos. The White Circle did come to us," he said in a clinical tone. "Anagan," the red-haired wizard turned to his comrade. "Do the honours and show this girl a warm welcome."

"With pleasure." The black wizard charged at Nebula but she raised the White Circle up and focused a blast from it that hit the man squarely in the chest. He flew across the warehouse floor.

"You bastard!" Nebula screamed. "You slaughtered my children and burned our homes! In the name of the Lord, you will pay!" The scent of coppery blood permeated her memories as she called them to forefront to power her magic.

The endless fields of bloodied and dismembered bodies clouded her mind's eye. The scent of burning flesh mixed with that of burning thatched huts and crops. The sky was black with soot and smoke and there was an endless every present wail of pain. Men, women and children were scattered all over. Some of them with dead with lifeless eyes and some of them were in agonizing pain halfway to blissful death and their bodies twisted or torn in indescribable angles. Children called for their dead mothers and fathers to take the pain away.

Nebula screamed in anguish and she radiated a purple nimbus of magic.

"Be careful. This fairy's powers are stronger than we expected. Something is different with her," Ogron noted.

Nebula roared again in frustration.

"Whatever," Duman shrugged and glowed white until his body turned into a grey minotaur with a red main.

"Don't you even dare, Ogron!" An orange-hair fairy flew in with several others behind her. They landed just behind Nebula with battle-ready faces.

"What is this?!" Nebula looked around confused. "Who are you?!" There were more fairies who had escaped the greediness of the Fairy Hunters? How had they survived? Where had they hid during all this time? Great merciful God, father of the Lord Jesus Christ, let it be true! She was not alone.

Ogron smiled. "The Winx. How convenient! We can rid ourselves of the fairies once and for all! Gauntlos?"

"These girls deserve an applause." The blond man clapped his hands together and wave of force radiated from him sending Layla who was directly in front of the hunter into the wall.

The other fairies flew into the air to avoid the waves.

"Roxy, get out of here! We're here to defend you," a blond fairy warned.

Nebula's daze broke at the sudden thought that these fairies were here to protect her. She stared in terror and took action. She could not save her own village but the least she could do was save these lucky ones. "I think not! I've been waiting for this moment for too long." Nebula raised the ring and aimed a purple bolt at Ogron.

It hit him right in the chest and muttered darkly.

"What happened to Roxy? It's as if she's a totally different person," a tanned fairy whispered.

"_Plasma wall!_" a blue-clad black fairy screamed and created a purple sphere around her as Duman, in minotaur form, swiped at her, a girl with purple hair and a redhead. "This wall won't hold for long!"

Nebula watched in confused horror as the young fairies tried to defend her. Bolts of multicoloured light flew from everywhere. Gauntlos shot another thunderclap at the fairies in the air but one of them shot a blast at it to deflect the attack. It failed and sent the remaining three fairies slamming into the walls.

Nebula screamed a bloodcurdling battle cry and flew into the air. "Prepare to die, wizards! You will pay for everything you have done."

"I've captured thousands of fairies before. I'm not afraid of you," Ogron said casually and leapt out of the way as Nebula began shooting purple bolts at him.

Nebula screamed frustrated. "I will kill you! You will not get away from me this time!"

To another side of the warehouse, the black fairy collapsed under Duman's swipes at her shield. The shield crumbled away and the dark-skinned fairy collapsed in the arms of the redhead.

"_Double eclipse!_" The blond fairy put up another around the two as Duman attacked again with maniacal glee. Theses fairies had no chance of getting out of this alive, Nebula worried. They are not trained for combat.

"_Winter rose!_" the brown-skinned fairy yelled and earth shook as vines thicker than a man broke the ground. They formed a wall before her to protect her, the oriental girl and the one with purple hair.

All the girls were doing were taking the defensive. They had inflicted no damage since they had entered the battle and their attempts at protecting her were for nothing.

Nebula blasted Ogron with purple bolts with all her might but he casually deflected or evaded them. She poured her power into one single powerful blast the size of a fist and shot it at him. This time, he put up a shield that pushed away at the bolt. He struggled to hold the intense blast away from him and Nebula concentrated on pushing back. He deflected the bolt to the ground and shot another one at her.

"This is ridiculous. We're getting nowhere with this. The White Circle is making her too strong," Ogron yelled to his brother wizards. "Let's go."

"WHERE THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING?! I'M NOT DONE WITH YOU YET!" Nebula screamed. They would not get away from her now! She shot random but deadly bolts at all the wizards in her rage.

"Don't worry. We'll see you soon," Ogron threatened and then all the wizards vanished into smoke.

"NOOO!" Nebula screamed and unleashed one final blast at them. She screamed again and landed on the warehouse floor.

They had gotten away. Nebula froze, incapable of thinking.

"This is all your fault, you stupid girls!" she screamed at the half-dozen weary fairies. "YOU STUPID, STUPID, STUPID GIRLS!"

They had ruined her revenge! They had fucking ruined her revenge! Did these idiots not realize what danger they were in?! Nebula had not needed help! She could have finished off the Black Circle in one swoop had the girls not distracted her. They would pay for it when the Black Circle came back.

"What's wrong with her?" some of the girls murmured as if expecting something.

"Roxy," the redhead fairy approached her slowly. She held her arms up to show that she meant her no harm. "I see that the White Circle has changed you. Your eyes are different."

"THESE ARE THE EYES OF REVENGE!" Nebula screamed in outrage. "You ruined everything!"

"Roxy, listen. You're releasing strong negative energies and that isn't good for you. Give me the Circle, please…"

"The White Circle belongs to me! Nebula! You ruined everything, you selfish child! You will pay for it!" Nebula poured seething electric energy into the ring and from her body, creating an explosive wave of force to radiate from her body. She poured her angry at the redhead and the fairy went flying. The blond fairy and the dark-skinned one caught the fallen redhead.

She raised the White Circle above her head and poured her energy from it. The ring glowed intense white and rays of energy shot from it to the ceiling, blasting a hole the size of several men.

-

"Asta, we have problem."

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

"Something's wrong with Roxy."

"Can I have something a little more detailed?"

"She can fly."

There was silence on the phone.

"This isn't good."

"I know. She's headed north towards the docks."

"I see her now. She's flying over the pier. Stay where you are and don't alert the others. I will deal with it."

Silence again.

"Please be gentle."

"I won't hurt Flora if I can avoid it."

"No…I mean Roxy, too, please."

Asta closed her phone and pocketed it. She kept her eye on the flying Roxy and could see the Winx barely keeping up with her trail. With little effort, she leapt several stories into the air and unto the roof of an apartment building and began to parkour the cities roofs.

-

Bloom pulled herself together and thought frantically for some kind of plan. Something was terribly wrong with Roxy and she was pouring more energy out of her body than what was really considered safe for someone of her skill. She would kill herself if continued at this rate.

"_Sonic screen!_" Musa summoned a red and blue spiral shield on her arm as Roxy shot a powerful blast of negative energy at her. The music fairy was pushed back several feet from the strength of the blast. The blast ricocheted off of Musa and back at Roxy and everyone held their breath, hoping that she would not get hurt.

The blast hit Roxy and burst into a spray of light on contact.

"Wha…what's going on?" Roxy eyes turned back to normal momentarily but the overpowering anger returned.

"Nothing is going on," a strange motherly cooed reassuringly using Roxy's face and voice. "Go back to sleep, child and let Nebula take over."

There seemed to be a brief conversation going on behind Roxy's eyes and it seemed that Roxy had acquiesced to this Nebula's wishes. She seemed to nod off to sleep and Nebula took over with her gleaming red eyes. A purple sphere of energy surrounded Roxy and Bloom felt anger, hatred and simple bloodlust pour from the pink-haired girl.

This could not be Roxy's energy, Bloom thought. She was not even capable of summoning this amount of energy. Bloom stared helplessly as Roxy was pouring out magical energy like a fire hydrant. If she did not do something fast, Roxy's body would give out before the ring was done pouring out magic.

"This energy is going to kill her if we don't stop her soon," Bloom said frantically.

"What if we put a shield around her to force the energy back unto her," Musa suggested. "She'll she stop when she realizes that it's not going anywhere." She deflected another bolt of light that hit the wall.

"Are you insane?" Asta yelled through all the static energy as she came as she dropped from the rafters.

The girls gave her a surprised look as if wondering what she was doing here, momentarily letting their guards down. Bloom somewhat breathed a sigh of relief as the witch stepped in.

"Oh great," Stella said sullenly with a mean face.

"What if she doesn't stop pouring magic?" Asta reasoned, "She'll just kill herself from overdose! Her body will have an allergic reaction and shut down. Where would we be at then?" Asta's eyes glowed white as she summoned an aurora borealis around her to shield herself from Roxy's random blasts of energy.

The pink-haired girl took much glee in throwing puck shots at the girls. Everyone raised a shield or two to deflect the wild blasts that were singeing the walls. Conversation was slow as everyone tried to deflect Roxy's bolts of light.

"Then what do you supposed that we do then?!" Bloom criticized angrily, coming off harsher than she had meant. "If you're so smart, do something!"

Asta gave her a hardened belligerent stare. "Fine! I can see that you stupid fairies don't want me here! I'll go! I can see that you have everything under control here what with Roxy going insane with enough power to destroy the city."

Bloom's heart faltered as Asta turned. "NOOO! Don't go!"

Roxy emitted a wave of energy sending the girls reeling.

"Where is this energy coming from?" Asta asked, sweat forming on her brow as she concentrated on her barrier.

"The ring in her hands," Flora said.

"Where in the world did she get such a powerful object?"

"We found it when we went to the country," said Bloom. "She was perfectly fine until I gave it to her just now."

"YOU DID WHAT?! Where was the logic in that, you idiot? Why the hell didn't you tell Sky about it? We could have examined it." Asta muttered darkly and assessed the situation with a quick glance.

Bloom was about to rebuttal when Asta interrupted. Who the hell gave her the right to yell at her?

"We have to take the ring away from her then."

"Gee, really?!" Stella said sarcastically.

"If you can do better than me, why don't you do it?" Asta commented acidly and Stella took to staring somewhere else. "If not, shut up. Bloom, we have to absorb her energy—"

"What? Are you kidding me?"

"Then how do you expect to get the ring out of hands? We can't walk through all that magic unharmed. We're not gods. You have the Dragonfire, that should be easy enough for you," the witch said brusquely. "I'm capable of dying, if it hasn't occurred to you yet."

All of a sudden, there was an immense weight on Bloom's shoulders as the other girls look at her as their savior.

"Listen to me. Bloom absorb her energy. Think of it as redirecting fire because that's all fire really is. Energy."

"Then I'll help her, too," Stella said. "I'm the fairy of the sun and the moon. Sunshine is energy, too." The blond fairy took a stance beside Bloom with a strong face.

"You do that. I'm going to try to get close enough to knock that thing out of her hands."

"And how are you going to do that?" Tecna asked.

"I'm going to tranq her," Asta said with a cold efficiency. A small grey handgun appeared in her hand and she cocked it. God, did the girl have kind of conscience?

"Excuse me?!" Tecna screamed. "That'll just kill her too!"

Bloom's eyes darted from her friend to the witch as she tried to understand what was going on and what would happen to Roxy.

"Yes, but Bloom and Stella are going to keep absorbing her energy even though she's down. You keep absorbing until there's nothing but Roxy's energy or the ring is out of her hands. There should be a difference between the two."

Bloom looked to Tecna for support.

"Just do it, Bloom," the purple fairy said. "There's no time for arguing."

Bloom made a stance and focused her mind. Layla and Musa had put up shields again to protect Stella and Bloom as they took in the energy. Bloom dove into the anger and hatred and bloodlust trying to make sense of it all. Bloom decided to just absorb the energy into a ball. She used her hands to guide the sphere into life. She pulled at the odds and ends of the energy about her and condensed it into the black sphere in her hands.

She saw bloodied fields and skies accented by plumes of black smoke. People were running; parents running with children in their arms across crops as they fled from the burning forest. Bodies already dotted the dirt roads and people avoided them like the plague. The dead bodies had strange black circles on their exposed necks and there was a ghostly wail.

A woman ran down the dirt path ahead with a sickly gait and she collapsed to her knees coughing. Bloom ran to the girl to help her but she screamed at her. The woman wore a tattered brown dress with no sleeves.

"_STAY AWAY FROM ME!_" she screeched and began to back away in fear like Bloom was a disease. She also had the black circles on her neck and parts of her exposed arms. "I have the black circles! It's too late."

Bloom cried tears as she tried to comfort the girl. The name 'Cesarina' came to mine and her mouth as she tried to approach the girl. She only wanted to hold her. She would not hurt her. Bloom saw the girl get and run back to the burning forest. Before she could, she collapsed to her stomach. She never got up.

"Cesarina!" Bloom cried and then there was a strange echoing sound as if a bomb had gone off. The sound of a bell broke her out of reverie and she realized that she was back in the warehouse.

"Roxy?!" someone screamed and there was a heavy thud. Bloom fell to her knees as something heavy, black and spherical dropped from her hand. Beside her, Stella fainted.

* * *

**Latter Note:** Due to the length of the original note, I have moved it to my Rants thread in my forum.

By the way, thanks for reading up to this far. (April 11, 2010)


	18. Chapter 18 Run!

**Verboten  
****Chapter 18**

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

**Disclaimer:** I do not own.

**Fore Note: **I realize that I update this story fairly fast but you have to realize that it takes a lot of time to write this. I primarily write this because I enjoy it. Be patient or I will bitch and make the wrath of God look tame.

* * *

"Sky, where's the seal?"

"You know that I have the fake, right?"

"Yes, but it's just as valuable."

"It'll come back to me when I actually need it." Sky shrugged.

"Sky…" Erendor warned.

Sky's phone rang and he answered it. He put on a troubled face. "I need to go."

"Then go."

-

Coming back to Earth was not what Bloom had expected. She had expected to find Roxy easily and defend her from the wizards with the might of Dragonfire. Nothing could defeat the Dragonfire. She, as a person, could be defeated but the Dragonfire by itself was a force to be reckoned with. She had her friends and her boyfriend to watch her back if in case Dark Bloom came back. Admittedly, life was not exactly easy with her real parents back who were trying to catch up on sixteen years worth of politics and her bo—fiancé having become king on short notice but she had considered that her life had turned out for the best.

Wow, she was still having a hard time thinking of Sky as her future husband. Bloom waved the thoughts away. She loved him. Even though he had been rather moody and cold as of late, she still loved him.

She had expected Roxy to resist the truth when Bloom and the Winx had first approached her and she had. Roxy had called them vain and self-serving. She had expected to encounter trouble with the girl and even her father. Roxy threatened to call the police on them for stalking her and getting in her way. She had expected to encounter resistance from the seat of the pink-haired girl's soul but none of it could have prepared her for the power Roxy had just displayed.

She had never expected something so unpredictable as Roxy getting possessed. Bloom did not even sense that the ring had a life of its own until Roxy brought it out.

Bloom breathed heavily as she tried to catch her breath. She laid on the dirty warehouse floor sprawled. Her heart was going at a million beats per minute and was beginning to slow only very slowly. Her eyelids were heavy as if she wanted to sleep.

All the other girls sitting, just as exhausted as her for various reasons. Layla was kneeling over the unconscious Stella. Normally, Bloom would have cared very much but she was just too tired to get up.

She closed her eyes momentarily and enjoyed the darkness. She did not want to recall the strange thoughts that had passed through her as she absorbed the energy from Roxy.

"No-no-no-no-no! Don't die on me now! ROXY! Oh god, oh god, oh god! Artos, where are you when I need you!" Asta screamed and Bloom's eyes shot wide open. She sat straight up and ran to Asta who was over Roxy's chest pushing down on Roxy's heart with a fist. A small needle dart laid several feet away.

"No, she can't die!" Bloom screamed. She realised belatedly that Asta was giving her CPR.

If Roxy dies now, the entire mission would be for nothing and she would have failed. She can't die now!

"Force of life!" Bloom casted and poured her own energy into Roxy.

"That won't work! Her pulse is gone! It's cardiac arrest! She needs a defib now! God, Artos, I need you," Asta wailed helplessly and started to breathe hard. "Calm down. First aid. I can do this…"

"I can do first aid, too. Let me help." Tecna fell to her knees across from Asta. "Asta, put Roxy down…"

The witch nodded and began reciting practised instructions. Tecna confirmed every step of it so Asta would not make a mistake. "I need to do a defib." Asta put Roxy on her back and started undoing her shirt. Then she unsnapped her bra.

"We don't have a defibrillator," Bloom supplied. "The nearest hospital is half an hour away and…"

"No, you idiot! Are you a fairy or not?! Has it occurred to you that we can jolts of energy to her heart with our hands?!"

Bloom cringed and stepped back.

Asta hands glowed slightly as she one placed under her left breast and the other over her right breast near her collar bone. "Ready?" she said to Tecna.

The purple fairy nodded gravely and kept her eyes intent on Roxy.

Asta's hands glowed a blinding white for less than a second and Roxy coughed slightly. Tecna scanned Roxy's vitals using her PDA. It was several long moments before she spoke. "She's stable."

-

Sky's knuckles turned white as he listened to the Winx girls recounted their adventure in the country. This time, it included the White Circle. As soon as they were done, Sky roared.

"WHY THE HELL DID YOU NOT TELL ME ABOUT _THIS_?!" the blond king yelled and pointed at a silver white ring that was floating in a crystalline sphere on a coffee table.

The girls sat on a couch in the warehouse, tired but more importantly, extremely terrified.

"WHAT IN YOUR RIGHT MIND MADE YOU DECIDE THAT YOU COULD GIVE ROXY _THIS_?!"

There was a tense moment. No one wanted to speak. It was all of their faults.

"Oh, will you stop your whining?" Stella answered. "What really matters is that Roxy's alive."

"Excuse me? Stop my _whining_?! Is that all that what matters, _princess_? The end result?" Sky said acidly. "What the hell would you have done if Asta hadn't come in when she did? Where would Roxy fucking be if Asta hadn't come in and given her a defib?! Com'on, Stella! Tell me!" he dared.

Stella gave an insolent stare and stared off to the corner irritated.

"Answer the fucking question, Stella!"

"Don't dare you swear at me!"

"I don't give a shit if I'm swearing at you. I swear that I could fucking kill you right now! Where would Roxy be if Asta hadn't given her a defib?"

Stella refused to answer. "I don't need to deal with this!" The blond princess got up and begun to make her way out.

"Young lady, I suggest you take a seat right now," Erendor threatened menacingly. He and his retinue of guards blocked the exit as they strode in.

Stella stood her ground defiantly. "Make way. You can't tell me what to do. My father is the King of Solaria. You can't even lay a hand on me! You'd be swarmed with lawsuits if you did."

"Watch me." With unexpected strength for a man of his size, Erendor raised a flat hand and unleashed it across the Solarian princess's face. She went flying several meters away. "Stop being an arrogant bitch. You think your father is always going to be there for you? What will you do when he finally dies?" As an afterthought, he added, "I can see why Luna gave up on you. Care to prove me and the rest of the galaxy wrong for once?"

Stella sat up and muttered darkly from her spot.

"Watch your tongue," Erendor warned. The fat man stood beside his son, both of them wearing serious, almost murderous, expressions.

A guard roughly pulled Stella to her feet by the elbow and deposited her on the couch with the rest of the girls.

"Who _exactly_ gave the White Circle to Roxy?" Sky asked as calmly as possible while brushing a hand through his hair.

Bloom's heart was stuck in her throat as she realised the implications of admitting to the crime. The blame would be put on her and right now, her relationship did not look too good. She looked at the other girls as well as Sky, hoping for some kind of secret message. She then looked at Erendor and her heart broke in a million pieces of glass. She had to tell the truth. At least for Roxy's sake.

Bloom raised a nervous hand as tears glistened down her cheeks. "I-I did." She faltered under Erendor's scrutinizing stare and began to weep desperately.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't tie you to a chair weighted down with stones and pitch you into the ocean," Erendor said. "I expected better of you, Bloom."

"I-I'm s-s-so sor-ry…I-I…" she tried to explain. She used the back of her hands to wipe away her tears. "I-I…didn't mean t-to…"

Oh, what was the point? Her relationship was down the drain anyways. Bloom got up and walked out of the warehouse. She ran.

* * *

**Latter Note:** Roxy died for like a couple of minutes.

Sky's a major bitch but it can't be helped. Someone almost died. _Roxy_ almost died. He's not going to take it lightly even if it was the Winx Club. Roxy's survival is much more important than Bloom's or any of the Winx. Can you imagine if Roxy had died? "Oh, hey, Ms. F, she died."

Everything is made worst by the fact that Erendor is still there.

Now, will Roxy be the same? Or will she wake up with a case of amnesia? _And what about her father? _

They're in deep shit.


	19. Chapter 19

**Verboten  
****Chapter 19**

Saturday, September 12, 2009

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Winx Club. I do, however, own this intriguing plot. Congratulations if you have gotten to Chapter 19! Even I didn't expect to get up to here!

**Fore Note: **Bloom almost accidentally killed Roxy. You can get anymore guiltier than that.

**Shout Outs:** Darev: An uplifting kick in the ass. I took his review into consideration after a couple of days and realised that that was the crappiest ending to a chapter that I ever wrote. I added some more. I intended to make it like a surprise of sorts but this just adds to drama and saves me time in the long run.

* * *

The Winx Club had left after Bloom had fled in minutes. Stella gave him a hateful look which he readily ignored. He had more pressing matters to deal with. The blond king turned to his father who put on a stern face.

"No wonder my mother loves you," Sky said sarcastically.

"You take after her more than you do after me, Sky," Erendor replied.

"Gee, thanks." Sky intently at the White Circle encased in its bubble-shaped prison.

The translucent grey sphere itself hovered lazily over the table. All this trouble just because Bloom had given the _thing_ to Roxy, who probably had not a single clue what to do with it. Gods, it looked so harmless and innocent. It looked like a rather plain silver white circlet with four coin-like adornments of the same metal at cardinal points. It was freaking piece of jewellery to Sky's male mind.

All this freaking trouble for a little piece of metal! The insanity of it all. It was moments like this when he just wanted to scream his frustration to universe and challenge it to do something.

Fuck. For a piece of jewellery. The nerve!

"You said you wanted something, Dad?"

The rotund man sighed, as if tired of repeating himself. "The seal?"

"I sold it."

"How very like your mother, Sky."

"It was a fake, Dad."

"But just as valuable."

"Why do you put so much value in a worthless piece of gold?" the son asked and with one glance at his father, he resigned. "I'll go get it, Father," Sky surrendered and loped out of the warehouse to retrieve the ring from the pawn shop. And as always, a dozen spies trailed after him. He needed the fresh air after what had happened.

It was two hours later before the King of Eraklyon retrieved the ring from the pawn shop. It had been simple and nothing exciting had happened. He walked in and paid for it and then left.

He walked down the boardwalk while looking at the ring. It was a simple gold ring with a ruby inlaid. The crest of the royal family was carved into it and the family motto was inscribed on the inside. However, it did not have the same feel as the real seal. Sky was familiar with it. He had no way of explaining it but he knew it was just that.

First, he needed to deal with his father and get him off the planet. Entering the warehouse, Sky dropped the ring in his father's hand and nodded. They spoke briefly about his mother and then Erendor left for Eraklyon by portal.

Now, Bloom. He really needed to straighten some things with her before it got any worst.

-

**Two days later**

The warehouse was indeed not a hospital. It did not remotely look like one nor was it ever going to become one. The medical inspection room, MIR, was only that, a medical inspection room. It was not meant to hold someone in critical condition at optimal state with oxygen tanks, life-support systems and monitors for everything. However, the warehouse was equipped with all these essentials and Chandra was thankful for small favours and thinking in advance.

Of course, they had expected that they could not go to an Earth hospital and not have questions asked about how they got their injuries and that was why Chandra and Artos, whose only function more practical medicine than spying and socialising with Earthlings, were there at all. However, they were not the only Eraklyonites capable of practising medicine. Almost everyone around them could practise first aid to a certain level but it was never a good idea to self-diagnose one's self if such a situation arrived.

The MIR was a simple long room fitted with four gurneys with curtain dividers like any hospital. It was walled off and tastefully painted a calming blue as well as having its own ceiling to give the sense of security. There were also shelves upon shelves of locked cases of medicine and other supplies.

With all of that said and done, being the doctor to go to was not boring when squires with clumsy blond girlfriends arrived to Artos with cut hands that needed stitches or when a robbery goes awry and one of the victims were shot. Being a doctor had its moral merits but also it had its dark side.

A doctor's greatest fear and enemy was the nearly irreversible state of being dead and the inexplicable coma.

Death, Artos could live with. There was the customary guilt trip but he learned to live with it.

Comas, he could not.

Comas gave a false sense of death, a false sense of security with the body, breathing, lying there on the bed doing nothing except exhaling carbon dioxide and occasionally mumbling.

What was the worst was when a body was in a bloody coma that just hovered above freaking death. Occasionally tempting the line by going flatline and forcing Artos to plug the defibrillator just to go back its normal heart rate before the machine could even charge.

She was suffering from a major case of magic overdose and the symptoms were horrible. Roxy had hovered over the line and placed a toe over it three times in the last two days since the incident with the White Circle. She had never woken up once each time and this scared the crap out of Artos many times. She just could not seem to make up her mind.

How typical of a woman to be so moody, even in a coma. There were times when he swore she was laughing at him.

At this point, he almost dared her to get it over with and die. It would make everyone's lives easier. No joke, either. If Roxy died today, the goal of Black Circle would be nearly unattainable unless there was another Earth fairy in the galaxy. This would ward off any potential dangers that would have come in the future like greedy megalomaniacs who wanted Roxy for 'historical value.' They would not have to watch her every moment of the day.

In short, they could all go home.

That was not case and it was better not to be tempted anymore by those thoughts. They only brought on darker thoughts.

There was a boring part of the job that Artos did really see as boring or a job but as free time ever since he discovered the science fiction section in a bookstore. He was always on standby and so he had to be prepared but he had taken to reading Earth books to pass the time.

He had started reading Clive Cussler simply because he was bored and interested in what Earthlings called science fiction. Currently, he was supposed to be watching Roxy who occupied a bed. The girl had not gone home since the incident and Artos or Chandra did not plan on sending the girl home without being conscious and passing a battery of tests.

First, she needed to wake up.

-

Where was Roxy? How was she? Was she eating right? Was she going to bed at the right time? Was she safe? What was she doing right now? These questions circled Klaus's head several times an hour, each tumbling over each other trying to find an answer.

Klaus flexed his hand angrily like he wanted to hit something and leaned back on his bed. He was simply too old for all of this. First, Roxy is surrounded by a group of never-before-seen girls and makes friends with them faster than the blink of an eye. Then, Roxy comes home to him looking all dizzy and disoriented, accompanied by those new friends of hers from a road trip. Those girls were bad news as soon as he saw them.

What worried him the most was that his daughter had not visited him in days. Sure, managing the bar was hard work but it was not too much to visit him, was it?

He also had to worry about those boys. His new waiters were obviously a lot more than Greek exchange students considering the night of the robbery but he wanted to believe deep inside that they were good men. After all, they had thrown themselves in the line of fire to keep the bar from being robbed.

Klaus closed his eyes tightly as he tried to push the image of Riven and Nabu beating the robbers or how Sky threw that knife. They were obviously a lot more than one was led to believe. Definitely a lot more but could he trust them? What were obviously very powerful men doing working at his bar? Why did they all hover protectively over Roxy? It was not evident but each boy made their business to get to know Roxy.

There was also that Asta girl who seemed to know Sky and Brandon well enough to casually talk to them during work. She was surely part of something big with the way she kicked the robbers or bravely bashed them with the chair. The girl should be in freaking high school still if he judged her age right. She barely looked fifteen yet but she knew something. As did the boys and those strange girls.

He had been confined to the hospital for a little over a week now and was allowed to prowl the hallways but that little piece of freedom did not satisfy him or his questions. He had a shattered collar bone and his arm was in a sling. They said that he would be in a sling for at least three months including many visits to the hospital. He did not even want to think about the insurance. After all, he had to support Roxy.

And that was what scared him.

The insurance.

There was no doubt that he could not do much work with an arm in a sling and he had to pay for their living expenses. He owned a well-off bar and he could still manage it but it still terrified him. What was a man his age doing getting shot?

No doubt the insurance would drill him insistently about the events.

He just did not want to think about it.

He felt so helpless and incapable.

He had to take one thing at a time.

Klaus roared his frustration out and began asking the same questions again: Where was Roxy? How was she? Was she eating right? Was she going to bed at the right time? Was she safe? _What was she doing right now?_

_God in Heaven,_ he prayed, _have mercy on Roxy. Don't let her slip away from me._

-

It was like any other ordinary business day at the Love&Pet shop. As ordinary as it could be. There was an abnormally high amount of hormones flying and every girl was high-strung for various reasons. This often resulted with a lot of verbal spats over the stupidest of things.

Layla had the afternoon off and planned to take advantage of it by spending it with Nabu and to get away Stella. The Solarian princess was only just tolerable on some days.

"Bye, guys!" Layla waved and stepped out of the door. "I'm off to see Nabu."

"Nabu, Nabu, Nabu! Ugh!" Stella whined. "Always Nabu!"

"Be quiet, Stella. I don't want to hear it," Tecna said brusquely.

Stella grumbled darkly.

"Take it up with Brandon if you have a problem with Mitzi," Tecna supplied detached. "If not, concentrate on thinking of places to find Bloom."

Bloom had not been seen since the 'incident.'

No one outright talked about it but it floated in the air like a heavy guillotining miasma. Complete and utter stupidity. How had they not seen it coming? Where was the sense in giving Roxy a magical object even when she had no experience whatsoever with magic? How had they overstepped the simple precaution to see what the ring was made of? To see what it could do?

Stupid, stupid, stupid!

How had they not seen it?

Bloom had not been seen for almost two days now and the girls were seriously worried. She had run out crying from the warehouse and the bastard ex-king Erendor was the one who finally unhinged everything. Bloom's quivering omission had proven more than anything that the Winx were a liability to these militarists. The Winx were not needed nor were they appreciated. They had only made the situation clearly worst and Sky was the first one to vent his rage out with Erendor behind him as he yelled at Stella.

Briefly, Tecna hoped that Sky would settle down and try to make it up with Bloom but that could only come after they had located Bloom. (She refused to think 'if they found her…') Tecna had a green magically generated-projection in front of her showing a map of Gardenia. There were several red dots on it that pinpointed locations that Bloom was not at. There was one at Mike and Vanessa's, at the flower shop, at Roxy's home, at the boy's loft and several other places that Vanessa had pointed out ("When I get my hands on that bastard!" Mike had said).

Oh, what she would do if she could go back to pixie village and get Lockette?!

No doubt the pixie of portals could find her bonded fairy just as fast as Tecna could calculate the escape velocity of a baseball on Earth.

But no, they could not bring the pixies here because that would only endanger them and they would cause unimaginable trouble whenever their backs were turned.

Tecna bit her lip nervously as she tried to get into the mind of Bloom. Where would she go? It had to be some place of significance unless Bloom took a wildcard and left the city entirely. But to where? Where would she go?

Great, now she needed a map of Italy and had to call Vanessa again.

All around her, the rest of the girls worked with the pets. Kiko nibbled nervously on a pen at Tecna's desk and tried to comprehend the map. The little rabbit had taken to idly doing nothing and crying at the lack of Bloom. Ginger the green sheep tried to comfort him but she felt the lack of Bloom as well.

All the activity came to a stop as the door opened. Asta, girlish-looking as ever with loose knee-length black hair and short shorts and a t-shirt, strode in and closed the glass door behind her. She had a stormy face on that meant trouble.

"What do you want?" Stella said acidly. It seemed like Stella's hormones spiked every time Asta was in the vicinity, Tecna noted.

Asta shrugged her off and turned the OPEN card on the glass door around to CLOSED.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Stella shrieked and dropped a hairdryer on a table.

"I am here to help you," the witch said in a bossy tone. "I don't know what the hell you've been doing for the last two days but I am here to help end your search faster. I didn't think it takes that long to find a princess! You are getting off-planet as soon as you find Bloom and after that, you can go home to your kingdoms or to that fairy school of yours."

"Who are you to order us?!" Musa said indignantly, standing up from her work. All the girls did the same and took a defensive stance.

Asta looked at the music fairy incredulously. "_Sky_ wants you off-planet. I don't care what you say or what you do but you are getting off this backwater planet as soon as Bloom is found."

"But why?!" Tecna asked, almost yelling. "What did we do? We didn't mean for Roxy to get hurt."

"What, do I need to explain this to you? We don't care what your intentions were. You compromised Roxy's wellbeing, both physically and possibly mentally!" Asta said in superior tone like she was chastising a child. "You are getting off this planet by the end of the week whether you like it or not," Asta said with a tone of finality. "Sky is going to buy your shop tomorrow. You can bring your pets with you to Magix and try to sell them there. _This shop is closed._"

* * *

**Latter Note:** It's occurred to me that the White Circle has to be_ something_. I mean, it's so impractical to carry a giant hoop unless you shrunk it down to a finger ring but the problem was that it was found as a hoop at Batson's farm. So, Sky (meaning _I_) thought it was a silver circlet (circlet: a circular decoration, especially a decorative band worn on the head; e.g. a lightweight tiara or crown). It seemed in all measures very possible and just as majestic for a piece of jewellery from Nebula's time.

As for the entire concept that this trouble was from a piece of jewellery, I think that that was an affront/insult/attack to his masculinity. Personally, I think it's hilarious. He's a freaking _guy_. What do you expect from him?! Guys are dense _sometimes_.

The (Sky's) ring/royal seal. That was a part of the show and nothing important actually happened with the ring except that he had pawned it off for money and had to retrieve it. In my story, there are two rings: the real one and fake one. In the show, there is only _one_. I have this sinking suspicion that the ring will be important in the latter half of the show. I have an alternate purpose to it in my story.

MIR. Yes, there is such a thing. This is the military equivalent of the nurse's office except they do have beds, quarantine rooms, medication, etc. However, they are not equipped like a hospital. We have hospitals for that.

Something important to reflect on is Klaus's many dilemmas. He is a single parent (as far as episode thirteen, at least) raising one daughter who seems to be mixing herself in the wrong crowd (the Winx Club). Everyone might not see the girls as we do. We know for a fact that they are not evil but Klaus does not. All he sees is a group of mixed girls taking his Roxy away from him to only come back in new strange clothes, disoriented and exhausted, maybe even drunk or drugged. How does a father react to that? He simply sends the girls away believing that he is doing it in the best of Roxy's interests. Most parents are like that.

(Comments here have been removed to my forum. I tend to go crazy with these things.)

Lastly, Bloom has this really nasty habit of running away when the truth becomes too unbearable. She has done this so many times in the show; it makes me wonder if she is a capable queen. When 'Brandon' first revealed that he was in fact Sky, Bloom ran to her parents. In season two, Bloom and the gang went back home again to take a break from school. In season three, Bloom goes home after Sky, under a spell, proclaims love to Diaspro and reinstates his engagement.

Like geesh, I think almost killing someone qualifies as her seasonal 'run home to mommy and daddy.'


	20. Chapter 20 Start of Andy's Revelation

**Verboten  
Chapter 20**

Friday, September 18, 2009

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Winx Club. I do own Andy's real name though.

**Fore Note:** Thus starts another adventure. Roxy is comatose and Bloom has gone missing. Will things ever get back to normal? An even deeper question, what is normal?

* * *

It was late. Not too late but late enough. About nine o'clock.

The streets of Gardenia were lit with street lamps and everyone had taken to staying inside. The wind blew a frigid chill over the city; a sure sign that autumn was coming. Gold and red leaves were already starting to litter the streets, much to the dismay of front yard owners. The seasons did not care though. They went on their eternal march one after the other without so much as a thought for humans and their feelings. The change of seasons meant many things for many people.

For Andrea Amorelli, he did not know what it meant for him. College would start for him again he supposed and the band would have to be put on hold for a bit so that they could adjust. He planned to still play gigs at the Frutti Music Bar but he had no aspirations for fame and fortune. He simply loved music and loved to share it with his loved ones but he did not wish to complicate his love with money. It would lead to too many troubles.

That, however, did not make him spiteful towards other musicians who had such aspirations. Who was he to rain on their party? He certainly was not going to ruin it for Musa with her magical voice. She deserved it but he hoped that she did get swept with all the greediness that came along. He hoped the best for her.

Andy sat on a couch poring over his new schedules and trying to make sense of it all. All the lights in the house were off except for the living room and kitchen and his parents were out in the backyard having some alone time of their own. He had satisfactorily gotten all his classes; music history, music appreciation, vocal interpretation, etc.

It was moments like this when he wondered: where the hell was he going with his life? Quiet moments as if the flow of time itself had stopped. He found himself wallowing in some misplaced nostalgia. That question came out of nowhere. He hoped it never came back again.

It idly poked at his brain and Andy gave in. He seriously did not know where he was going. So many things had happened in the past month. Bloom came out of nowhere with that new boyfriend of hers that he refused to acknowledge plus some new friends from whatever foreign school Bloom had went to. Apparently, they had come from Greece. Which was all too coincidental because how did all of Bloom's friends and their boyfriends all end up in Gardenia? Gardenia was not a major city center with its one university and international wharves. It was nothing special but it was rather peculiar.

There was Riven, the egotistical redhead maniac who was rather objectionable of Musa's choices and the major moody jackass of the group. There was Helia, philosophically flaky but obviously had an appreciation of all forms of art and Andy had taken to him immediately. Nabu was right up there with Helia but not as philosophical as he was well-grounded. His mind did turn to mush a little when his girlfriend Layla was around but that was fine. Brandon was somewhat of a mystery to him. He seemed just the shell of a person who did whatever someone told him to do. He was rather disturbingly subservient in a sense and did not react much to anything. He was a good person, Andy could tell with a lovely girlfriend but he seemed to be worn down by something. Timmy, although he worked somewhere else, was the geek of the little group and he and Andy hit it off rather well. He was pretty sensible and Andy liked that in a guy.

Lastly, the blond sonavabitch guy thing machine of mass destruction asshole who throws knives…thing…

Andy's mind took to grim thoughts.

You think you know a guy until he starts throwing switchblades and serving trays at people the accuracy of a sniper.

Sky had been, officially, the nicest person of the entire group. (What kind of name was 'Sky'?) He was sociable, cheerful, polite and good-looking in his own right for a blond. He was the image of a saint. He treated all customers with respect as if their very choice would make or break his heart (blue puppy eyes helped). He made everyone feel important and powerful.

And that was dangerous, Andy reflected. The musician could feel something simmering under the surface, an unreadable emotion that no one seemed to understand. It was dark, for sure. The man kept secrets. Dark secrets probably. (Who didn't have them?) Sky was the observant one of the group and often played the role of diplomat. He was as talkative as he was silent with that serious stare of his and the smirk gently pulling at his lips. It was unnerving to Andy.

And Bloom had to be the one hitched to him.

How the hell had that happened?

When had it happened?

It took a lot for Andy to just not go up to the guy and kick his ass for simply existing. The guy screamed that something was wrong and Bloom was engaged to him. She wanted to be his wife of all things?!

If he had ever tried to even lay a finger on him, Andy wondered if he would even have a hand afterwards. He knew that all the guys had a degree of martial arts skill and that was probably the reason why they were friends. It was more than evident when they practised on the beach. They ranged from gentle tai chi to judo to hard-core military style combat. They fought as if their lives depended on it sometimes and that freaked the crap out of Andy. What kind of man fights with that much determination?

A man who fights for his life, something told him.

Andy himself had done some aikido in high school but that was nothing special. He wondered if any of them were legitimately Greek at all. Helia seemed most likely with his name but distinctly looked like a cross between Asian and some unidentifiable European. Riven had a very English name but had Asian screaming about him. Nabu was obviously African. Timmy and Brandon looked more like Europeans with both of them being somewhere around the British Isles. Sky was maybe somewhere in Norway, Denmark and Sweden. That did not matter much considering all the immigration going around in the world though.

Andy would have written them off as trouble of the illegal kind if they had not been able to actually speak Greek. Funny thing was, they could!? Andy had taken his high school Greek (barely passed it) and he freaked out when Helia spoke to him in a slightly accented version of the language. That truly freaked the shit out of him. He did not believe that they were Greek until they all spoke to him with different dialects of the same language. That was just freaking freaky.

Still, he knew something was wrong.

Andy was jarred out of his reverie by the sound of the doorbell. He jumped in his seat and wondered who would be visiting at this hour. He grumbled slightly as he got out of his comfortable spot on the couch and went to answer the door.

What he found was the living shell of his ex-girlfriend.

She was a ghost with pale skin and haunted blue eyes. She trembled violently and her face was wet with tears. She held herself nervously and she refused to look him in the eye. She hiccupped frequently and had her arms wrapped about her protectively like she was naked.

Andy, stunned, asked, "What happened?!"

"I-I-I…" Bloom sobbed out pitifully. "I di-didn't mean t-to…"

Andy quickly guided her in to the living room and told her to sit.

"God, Bloom, what happened?!" was all he good say. He held her by her arms tightly. God, what had brought to this state?

Bloom curled into a ball on his couch. She sobbed into his embrace. "Omigod, he…h-hates me! I know he hates! I was so stupid, Andy. I don't know what to do. He's mad at me, I know it!"

Bloom honestly looked horrible. Terrible, tattered, even destroyed. Dark bands started to form under her eyes and her fiery hair was a mess. Her shoulders quaked often and she often rubbed her hands together as if trying to wash something away. Her eyes were bloodshot and she had not slept much or even well. There was a sniff in her nose and her lips were dry.

He supplied her with Kleenex and she blew her nose like a trumpet. "What am I going to do? They're going to kill me! I know it." She started to rock herself nervously. Andy held her tightly.

He worried as he listened to her. She said that someone would want her dead. She had done something stupid but Bloom could do no evil, he though. Who would want her dead? Bloom was the nicest person on the planet. She sounded as if she were in deep trouble. What the hell had happened this afternoon? She was perfectly fined when she had called him earlier today for the concert at the bar.

"But why are you here? What did you do?"

"I-I-I was st-stupid, Andy!" she mumbled. "Please, can I just stay the night? Just one night and I will never ever bother you again. I know I shouldn't be here and I promise that I won't come back!"

"No-no, stay!"

His mother walked in with a question laced on her brow. "Who was at the door, Andy?" Her eyes landed on the redhead. "Bloom? What are you doing here?" Seeing that she was distraught and unable to answer, she looked to her son. She whispered, "What's going on?"

"I don't know. Can she stay the night?"

"What?!" his mothered said a little too loudly. Bloom cringed.

Andy got up from his seat, looked back to see if Bloom would be fine and waved his mother into the kitchen quickly.

"Andy, what is going on here?!" he mother whispered angrily.

"Mom, this isn't what you think it is! I seriously don't know what happened! She just appeared at the door like that," Andy said helplessly.

"Then send her home to her parents."

"Mom, look at how late it is?! Look how awful she is! Just let her stay the night, Mom. Please?"

It was a half later after Mrs. Amorelli gave in and let Bloom stay in the guest room. She lent her some clothes to sleep in. Andy worried immensely as he saw his mother guide her to the guest room. She had said that they would kill her. Who would?

* * *

**Latter Note:** I bet half of you were expecting me to send Bloom to her parents. Nope, too classic. It's Andy's turn to suffer. *evil laugh*

1) Officially, in the show, the specialists have never stated where they were from but in this story, I'm making it Greece. One, it gives us a plot that we can grasp for secondary characters to think. Two, Helia's name is Greek (even though it's a girl's name...) and a lot of good things came from the Antiquity. I have a theory as to why the boys can speak Greek.  
2) I made up Andy's real name, Andrea. Andrea is a male Italian name in contrast to it being normally heard as a female English name. Andrea is the equivalent of Andrew from Italian to English. So no, his parents did not get confused with his gender at birth. :)  
3) Andy's last name is not canon, not official. It is a real name by itself. None of the Winx characters have ever been given a lastname except for Bloom's in the 4kids books ('Peters').  
4) Riven's name is Old English. It means 'to be torn apart' as in the verb 'rip.'  
5) Andy called Helia 'flaky.' That usually means that you're cheesy or strange. It's a bit of slang. If you bother to look this up on Google, do not go to Urban Dictionary.  
6) For fair's sake, there is nothing realistically wrong with Andy knowing aikido. Any kid can learn a martial art and I don't think Andy is going to be different! It's just like judo, tae kwon do and karate!


	21. Chapter 21

**Verboten  
Chapter 21**

Friday, September 25, 2009

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Winx Club. I do own Andy's real name though. And Asta Stryker, Chandra Bisette-Richelieu and Artos, too!

**Fore Note:** Um, I'm not really experienced in writing the male point of view because namely, I am not a male. So, Andy's view is a little typical, I suppose. Feel free to comment on how the scenes should have gone.

* * *

Bloom now sat in his kitchen, staring at the plate of eggs and bacon as if she did not deserve it. She looked ready to decline but he cut her off before she could say anything.

"Eat."

Bloom gave him the saddest pair of blue eyes that he had ever seen in his life. They were wide with disbelief and she seemed unsure of what to say. She had not said much since she had arrived either.

"Just eat."

Bloom began to cry again and it broke Andy's heart to see her like that. What now? Andy stood awkwardly at her side. Was he supposed to comfort her? And how? Could he hold and hug her? Would it be too far?

He opted to hug her.

She fell into his embrace readily and they both fell to the floor.

He ignored the pain and let her curl in his arms.

What was he supposed to ask? What was he supposed to say? Shouldn't it be Sky comforting her? Not him; least of all, him.

This was wrong. This was not supposed to be him. This was supposed to be Sky's job. Why was Bloom here with him? She was supposed to run to Sky, not him. What had Bloom done to make her run to him?

She held him tightly as if he would be pulled away from him while she cried into his shoulder. Andy held her in her arms and let her curl up in his lap.

Shhh…" he whispered soothing words into her hair. He cradled her like a baby. "Bloom, what's wrong? Tell me," he said gently.

"No…" she sobbed.

"Com'on, Bloom."

"No! I don't want to."

"Bloom, you have to tell someone who else or it'll get worst."

"No…it will on-only get wo-worst if I do…"

"Bloom, you have to do something. Just tell me what happened," said frustrated. It was like trying to pull words out of a mute.

"No! Someone will get hurt if I do! I don't want _you_ to get hurt! He could kill you!"

_He?_ Something clicked. That bastard fiancé of hers. "_Is it Sky?_"

"NO!" Bloom screamed poignantly. "No, no, no, no, no, no! It wasn't him!" She cried even harder and moisten Andy's t-shirt. Her hands clawed into his arms uncomfortably.

This proved it. It was him. He knew something was wrong with the guy the moment he first saw him.

"It was Sky, wasn't it?! What did he do, Bloom?" Andy held her by her shoulders and shook her.

"No! You'll get hurt!"

"Bloom, you have to tell me what happened! I will fucking beat the fucking crap out of him if it he hurt you!" Andy roared.

"No, don't!"

"I'm calling the police." Andy squared his shoulders and tossed Bloom. He stood up and went to the phone.

Bloom's teary eyes widened when he plucked the phone off the receiver. "No, they'll only make things worst!" She grabbed for his wrists and tried to stop him from dialling. They struggled with the phone.

"Let go, Bloom! We have to do _something_! I don't know what happened but I know he did something wrong! The police will take care of it."

Bloom tried to pry his fingers but suddenly, the phone went flying out of his hand into the living room.

"They can't do anything! They wouldn't believe me! Please Andy, don't call them! Please Andy, don't. It'll only make things worst!"

"Bloom, what are you talking about?! Stop acting like a child. If Sky did something, you have to call the police?"

"It just won't work!"

"Then what? Wait here 'til he starts asking about you at work?! Honestly, what can he possibly do? Kill me?"

"_YES!!!_"

Andy's eyes widened and his nostrils flared out of anger like a bull. Bloom sat herself on a chair and lowered her head into her lap and began to hiccup.

What had happened to brave and righteous Bloom? Where had gone the fiery person who had stood for all that was just and fair during high school? Where had her faire gone? This was not the Bloom he knew. The person in his kitchen was merely the physical shell of someone he had admired in high school. In his kitchen was someone completely different. Weak, pitiful, cowardly.

Had her adventure in Greece done this to her? Had Sky done this to her? What had brought about this change? She had seemed fairly fine when he found her at Love&Pet. She had radiated happiness being surrounded by friends, pets and customers. She had good friends, a mysteriously successful business and was engaged and all of this in four years. That should have been seen as a tremendously good accomplishment.

"Please, Andy, just don't get them involved," she wailed.

Andy bent down to pick up the fallen phone. He stared at it temptingly when it begun to ring.

-

Love&Pet was closing. They had decided to have a closing sale the next day after Asta came in telling them to pack up. They were going back to Magix by force or not under Sky's orders. Tecna spread the word on the official website and automated phone calls to everyone who had an appointment at the shop. They were swamped with business and many of the customers rebelled against the closing of the shop in outrage. Everyone was squished like sardines in a can and jostled for space. There were lines outside that went on for a couple of blocks. Bloom was still gone.

"What am I supposed to do if she needs a spa treatment?"

"Where do I get the shampoo and soap?"

"What about outfits?!"

The ridiculous complaining grated on Flora's nerves and Helia promptly pulled the white curtains closed on the medical station. The noise did not abate but made it easier to focus on the task at hand. Artu sat in the corner uninterested in the aliens' conversation. On Flora's worktable sat an orange tiger pixie pet with a green face. The owner, Angelica, a fifteen year old girl with concern painted all over her face, hovered over the retching kitten.

Flora poked and prodded the kitten methodically. Helia casually observed with Artu. "Has he been injured recently? Eaten anything strange?"

"Um, the usual. I give him regular cat treats. Is that okay?"

"Oh, of course." Flora scrutinized the kitten. She began to message the tiger kitten's stomach and the kitten started coughing. "Are you sure he hasn't eaten anything unusual? Human food? Chocolate? He's still an animal after all."

"I give him crackers. Is that okay?"

"Of course. Is it only you who feeds him? Maybe a sibling giving him treats that aren't good for him?"

"I don't know. My sister sometimes feeds him when I'm gone to my mother's."

Flora gave her a curious look and then sighed. "We're going to have force him to vomit, Angelica. He might have eaten something."

"Is it going to hurt him?!"

Flora walked around the table and reached into a cabinet for a small pill container. The powdery blue bead-like pills jiggled in the plastic container. "I'm going to put this in his mouth with tweezers. Once it touches his tongue, he'll start puking. Hold him down tightly. Angelica, turn around. I'm going to need your help for this," Flora encouraged softly.

Angelica nodded palely.

Flora pulled out a pair of tongs and rubber gloves. The little procedure was rather simple but the end result was something one was not inclined to see very often. The frightened girl Angelica held the little tiger down until it was lying on all fours and Flora placed a blue tablet between the small tongs. She held it up to the kitten's mouth who bit down on it hard. It began to puke bead-like objects when its tongue came into contact with the pill. Flora took the pill out and threw it in the biohazard bin.

It was ten minutes later when Angelica left with orders to carefully watch what her tiger ate for several weeks. Flora closed the curtains for a ten minute break.

"Beads," Helia said shaking his head.

"There are so many hazards for the pets by just being small. I had to stop Coco from getting walked on once." Flora squared his shoulder tiredly and rubbed her eyes.

"Are you okay?" he whispered concerned and wound his arms around her as she leaned on him. They silently revelled in each other's presence.

"I don't want to leave Helia," she said into his chest. "I don't want to. We just found Roxy and with everything going on…this is wrong. We've only been here for a month and a half. Klaus is in the hospital, Roxy is in a coma…and now the shop is going to be closed!" And Bloom is missing, she thought the last part to herself.

Everything was falling to chaos. Sky was about to buy the shop at the end of today. Asta was busy working with Tecna trying to locate Bloom on a virtual map of Gardenia. Stella had taken to being curt and silent. Musa was doing her best to put with all the drama and Layla, who had taken roll of leader and pushed aside all the hormones of the other girls, ran the shop as best as she could.

"Helia, this isn't fair! Why? Bloom didn't mean it. Even I didn't sense anything from the ring!"

"That isn't the point, Flora," Helia cooed. "What's done is done. Roxy almost died and Bloom didn't have the forethought to check the ring with Sky. We can't have people like you here. You don't know how we work and that just makes a bigger gap between us." The artist swept a hand through her brown hair.

"It'll be an even bigger gap when _we_ leave!"

"That's not what I mean and you very well know it."

"Helia, you're supposed to be a pacifist! Bloom didn't know any better! How would you feel if—"

"Don't, Flora. It doesn't change the past."

"But it's still not fair!"

"_Life_ isn't always fair."

Flora began to weep into his shirt.

"I don't want to leave, Helia," Flora sobbed. "I don't want to leave _you_. What will I do when I get back? When will I see you again? Who knows when all of _this_ ends?!" She cried in earnest and held him tightly like he would slip from her hands. "I don't want to leave! Can't we talk to Sky or something?!"

"Flora, this isn't my decision to make. Sky is the one with all the resources."

"B-but—!"

"Shhhhh…" Helia pulled her closer and ran a hand through her hair as comfort. "I came here because I wanted to tell you something, okay? Just listen," he whispered into her ear. "Life is bittersweet. I don't know when this mission will end or if I will even make it to see the end."

"Don't say that!"

"Finding you was one of the best parts of my life so far. It was sweet. However, I must be able to take the bitter parts too. I have to be able to let you go."

"WHAT?!" Flora screamed and pushed herself away from him. Her face was wet with saline tears and her voice was hoarse. Was he trying to breaking up with her? Why?! Had she done something wrong? Was it because of Bloom? Sky? Erendor?

"Flora, listen to me!" Helia grabbed hold of her arms. "It's very well possible that this mission could go on for years and from the looks of it, it might. If the word gets out about Roxy's existence, wars will ensue and no doubt mad doctors would like nothing better then to cut her open. I can't keep you with this hanging over my head. I can't have you waiting for me at the end of this madness. That might be years or decades or _more_ from now! I'm not going to let you waste your life waiting for me, Flora."

"Helia, I love you!"

"I love you, too!" Helia brought a hand over his eyes as tears glistened. "But will you love me a year from now? Two years? Ten? I'm a hopeless romantic when it comes to these things but I have to be realistic, Flora."

"Then why don't you quit now and come with me to Magix or Linphea or Adquistes?! I'm sure they won't mind!" Flora grasped at possibilities that were quickly put out by Helia.

"Flora, I have a minimum three-year contract. I can't go AWOL without penalty. Please understand, Flora."

Flora quickly sank to the floor and leaned against the counter. She brought her knees to her chest and began to shed more tears. Her shoulders trembled and her throat seized up to let out more wails. Helia kneeled down to somehow comfort her. He reached tentative hands towards her.

"Leave me alone!" she screamed." Just go away!"

"I can't leave you like this, Flora."

"Just leave me alone, _you jackass_!" she screamed even louder.

Some moments later, Helia stood up. "Artu, let's go." He left with slumped shoulders. Flora curled into a ball on the floor and wept even more.

-

Andy emanated unfounded anger. He went through the grocery store throwing this and that into his basket as he walked. Cherries, cucumbers, zucchini. His mother had phoned him to do the groceries while he was at home. The nerve! Fury rode him as he tried to process what Bloom had said. He needed to be alone to leave himself space to think. He had left her at his home and extorted a promise from her that he would call the police if he had her not at home when he came back.

Frig, he wanted to throw something. At somebody. Anyone! Andy was drowning in a sea of confusion and land or the truth was nowhere in sight.

Something was definitely wrong. He could feel it deep in himself that something unnatural was happening. He had no reason whatsoever why but he knew intuitively that something was happening. Fuck, if only he had a name for it now. Strange things were happening in Gardenia and not all of them started with the appearance of his ex-girlfriend. There was the sudden appearance of a mysterious group of women dressed as strange avant-garde fairies flying around trying to (badly) save people and believe it or not, they could actually fly with those brightly coloured wings of theirs. There were people claiming that they were magical. Magic! What a load of garbage! Andy was willing to believe that these were some delusional anime fans and hardcore Harry Potter fanatics with too much time on their hands.

However, that still did not disprove the fact of how Stella had stolen his microphone. Andy shivered while remembering the scene. It had been another regular business day at the Frutti Music Bar when Mitzi came sauntering in with Shilly and some other crony to cause trouble. For some unfathomable reason, Mitzi had decided to serenade Brandon, on break, with a song of all things. Mitzi's singing was not horrible. In fact, it was rather nice and he let her go on. It was until he picked up a second microphone when it started to glow a orange and went flying straight out of his hand into Stella's! He had not thrown it at her that was sure!

And then the two started to have a singing war of sorts that left him befuddled and gaping. How did that microphone end up in Stella's hands? It had freaking _flew_! As in defied the laws of science! Of the universe! Who the hell were Bloom's new Greek friends?!

That was the second hint that made Andy realise that something was wrong in Gardenia. Microphones did not fly and fairy superheroes were not real. Maybe in some creative American comics or in Japan when people dressed up but that was it.

There were also strange weather reports where parts of the sky would turn purple or waves of explosive force could be felt down streets and triggering off earthquake detectors sending everyone into a panic. Strange radioactivity in other streets was detected by nuclear sciences students at the local university. Some streets had been effectively sealed for fear of a bomb or nuclear radiation. Even electricity and radio communication was cut off some times at the strangest times.

Of course, there was absolutely nothing magical about the state of panic the city was in.

To add to all of that insanity was his ex-girlfriend, Bloom was who currently and hopefully still at his house. Andy walked passed several aisles until he got to the dry goods section. Coffee his mother had specified. Andy bent down and picked up the brand his parents liked. He turned slightly to arrange the things in his basket.

Ho shit!

Andy froze and looked out of the corner of his eye over a stack of cans of tomatoes for sale piled as high as a man. There was a gleam of blond hair—shit, Sky! The blond was carefully inspecting some bag of spices. He seemed to be talking rapidly to himself. Andy turned his head slightly to get a better view and found Sky was talking to a dark-haired girl who was obscured by Sky's body. An icy anger engulfed Andy. What the hell? It was that strange little girl from the bar who drank tea and flirted outrageously with everyone. They were reading the label of some spice like it was normal. They spoke in that strange Greek of there's intermixed with recognisable Italian words.

What hell was Sky doing here? _Buying food, dumbass._

Andy heard bits of the conversation and understood them just barely. He recognized Bloom's name though and that alarmed him. Curious, he tried to catch who was the other girl. He had seen her at the bar but never really caught her name.

"—no, I am not letting you—Bloom. No question."

"God, stop being so—her. Drop the idiot."

"I am not. I am not listening—"

"She is weak. Leave her."

They were silent for a minute, pensive.

"Will this do, do you think?" the black-haired woman showed him a packet of leaves.

"Yes." He nodded and she tossed it into the cart.

"You have to do something, Sky."

"—that you're already doing something."

"Yes. I'm going to collect her."

"I suppose you. Just get Bloom back."

"—I kill her?"

"If you must."

Andy froze and hope to hell that he was interpreting everything right. Remembering Greek was such a major hassle since these guys had arrived. Who the hell was that other girl? She knew Greek and was avidly speaking it to Sky. Did that mean she was another of Bloom's friends from Greece? God, why the hell did they have such a strange accent? Andy turned and went walked around the grocery avoiding them like the plague trying to process everything.

What had happened to send Bloom to him in such a state? He needed answers now more than ever and headed straight for the cash.

"Oh, hey, Andy. Nice to see you."

Andy frozen and turned as the cashier scanned his items. "Hi…Sky." The musician put on a strained smile and tried to act cool. "What a coincidence. I never knew you lived so close."

Sky had those goddamn scrutinizing eyes of his on again and Andy was the subject and he felt…watched—in a bad sense. It just gave him the heebie-jeebies, okay?! The blond was pushing a cart full of food standing in the line next to his about to check out his groceries. It was packed with innocent-looking things. Andy scrutinized for who knows what. Something to kill Bloom with or to hurt her. There was milk, some spices, some soap, a couple of steaks and vegetables, all of which were innocent enough.

"Same here," the blond said. Andy noticed that the girl that had been with him was gone.

"So, how's Bloom?" Andy said poignantly. What the hell? Why was he bringing that up? Maybe to incite a reaction out of the blond; to see how he would react to him mentioning Bloom.

"Wonderful." Sky's face betrayed nothing.

Andy sensed a 'but.' "But?"

"She's disappeared for some reason,"—he sighed—"and I'm thinking I know where… We got into this awful fight, you see and we were both high-strung and she ran."

Andy stiffened.

Sky eyed him wearily. The man had bands forming under his eyes but he looked thoughtful and harmless. Yeah, right. "I think you might be able to point me in the right direction. I've tried her parents, her friends from high school…" Shit, he knows!

"Oh, well, good luck with that!" Andy said abruptly, took his change from the cashier and ran out of the grocery.

* * *

**Latter Note:** Let me make this clear: I have absolutely no experiencing in dating nor do I know how ex-boyfriends act. I'm saving dating until after boys grow up. Plus, all the ones in my class and program are dumbasses but hey, who isn't? (I mean boys in high school, not all males.)

As for Helia, I'm sure that there are HeliaFlora lovers who want to give me a good kick in the shin but if you think about logistically, the relationship has a 50%-50% chance of working with the constraints. Just to balance things out, I had her call him a jackass. Wow, that is the closest Flora will ever get to swearing! Yes, I know it isn't part of her personality which is why I put it there to make the point of how she feels about the entire situation.

By the way, I edited the end of Chapter 19 to include the 'Sky is buying the shop' drama. I just thought it was awesome (no, I had reasons which I will not divulge).

About this part: "There were also strange weather reports where parts of the sky would turn purple (Wizards of the Black Circle opening the Black Circle) or waves of explosive force could be felt down streets and triggering off earthquake detectors (Musa and Gauntlos/Gantlos, however you spell it. I prefer Gauntlos.) sending everyone into a panic. Strange radioactivity in other streets (Stella or maybe Bloom; duh, sunlight consists of UV rays which are harmful to our skin) was detected by nuclear sciences students at the local university. Some streets had been effectively sealed for fear of a bomb or nuclear radiation. (Stella or Bloom) Even electricity and radio communication was cut off some times at the strangest times. (Tecna and Timmy and maybe even Sky's warehouse?)"

Isn't that neat and scary at the same time? Just think about it for a moment.

P.S.: If you haven't figured it out yet, that was you-know-who in the grocery with Sky.


	22. Chapter 22 To Rome

**Verboten  
****Chapter 22**

Friday, October 2, 2009

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Winx Club. I do own Andy's parent's names though!

**Fore Note:** Shout outs to Stills and Photographs, Darev, Phoebe Rerun/Winx Fairy/Phoebe Faulkner (honestly, pick one!), Blosiom, Bloomerica, gamercatgirl, Lindsay, believixMusa, the Oblivious Prattler, the Melodic Muse, BloomandSky4ever, floraHelialover, Fairie-of-Darkness, SabrinaWitch and everyone else from Winx-Fairies. *waves* Realise that you don't need to review or even read this story to be here. You people are just awesome.

This is also for a notable writer who is now gone: Nisa Tunesque. I miss Tegryn.

* * *

The King of Eraklyon was anything but sane at the moment. He lost sleep. Too much sleep. He hovered over Roxy just as much as Chandra and Artos did. Roxy's wellbeing was his priority whether he liked it or not and he could not just go into Gardenia looking for Bloom. Roxy was on her deathbed. His girlfriend and future wife could come later when they all cooled down.

Asta could plainly see the logic in that. It might seem wrong or ethically anyways but it was the right thing to do. The whereabouts of the Sparks princess was none of her business even though Sky had ordered her to find her. None of it was Sky's fault and Asta saw no reason for him to go gallivanting into the strange city. This was what she thought and she didn't care about who thought otherwise. They could go to Hell and drown in the frozen lake of blood and guilt for all she cared.

Latently, she realised, when did she get so distant from everything and everyone? How did she end up acting like this? She had expected to come from Sky's angle years ago when he got the crown but when had she started hanging out with Brandon so casually? _Because he's your coworker._ She never really saw him as a friend before until after they arrived on Earth. They were not romantic feelings, she knew for sure. Just really odd ones. It was a melancholy feeling as the dead had come to haunt her. Why?

She could deal with her own emotional issues later, she prioritized.

What troubled her deeply was how was Roxy going to be when she woke up? If she woke up. Asta had a sinking feeling that she had experience something like this already. There was no way that the Earthling would not wake up shaken by the experience of such bloodlust and anger. Asta felt the anger try to force itself passed her shields and into her.

(There it was again. That haunting feeling that she had felt this before.)

Oddly enough, Asta expected herself to get out of that 'Nebula' situation with a major migraine of sorts after hearing so much emotional noise from a spectre but instead, she was right as rain. Strange, maybe ghosts did not really bother her as much as she thought they would. Maybe it just depended on the ghost?

Asta gave herself a quick introspection and realised 'who cared?'

Whatever.

Back to finding the princess. She had a job to do.

The witch sauntered in through the backdoor of the Love&Pet shop wanting to avoid the commotion in the front of the shop. Briefly, she looked into the shop to do a Winx Club headcount and noted a certain specialist's departing presence before she went up a set of spiralling stairs and found herself in the Winx Club's loft. Her eyes were assaulted with a rainbow of colours. Pinks, blues, greens, oranges, yellows, they were everywhere.

Asta threw herself onto the couch in the living room area not far from Tecna who was concentrating on a holographic projection of Gardenia. Tecna tried to ignore the witch's presence biting her lip. Obviously, she was quite annoyed at her. Asta did not need to read her mind to know when she was not desired.

"Spit it out," Asta said brusquely.

"Pardon me?" Tecna jumped in her seat and turned to look at the witch.

"Clear the air and tell me what you've got against witches."

"I have nothing against you!" Tecna defended. "I barely even know you!"

"Then why are you so apprehensive about me?" Asta spat back irritated. She stared at Tecna defiantly and crossed her arms, intent on not budging.

The moment hang like a dead thing in the air. Tecna turned her back so that the witch would not see her face. She idly pushed at hologram functions trying to pass the time.

Irritated, Asta made a suggestion. "Have you tried Andy?" The musician had been acting rather apprehensive in the groceries. He might not have seen her but she sure saw him as he tensely spoke to Sky in line while she went off to get tomatoes at the last minute. She could feel the tension emanate off the guy. Had she been more observant at the time, she might have even tried to read his heart.

"What?" Tecna asked, almost missing what the witch had said.

"Bloom's _ex_," Asta explained. "Have you tried looking him up? She didn't run to her parents. Who else do we know that she possibly run to on such short notice?"

Tecna angrily started to type like mad trying to find the musician's address.

-

Andy strode down the street hurriedly. Damnit, he wished he had a car of his own or else he would have had been home sooner. Would Bloom even be there still? His heart froze and turned to ice at the thought and he started to half-run half-walk. He was breathing harshly when he got to the door of his house. He shoved the key in and slammed the door open.

"BLOOM!" he yelled into his hopefully not empty house.

Godamnit, what the hell had happened last night?! Fuck, how much shit was Bloom in? Who the hell was Sky and what was he? Where did he come from? How had he met Bloom? And lastly, was she in trouble?

"BLOOM!"

Where was she?!

"BLOOM?!"

Andy ran into the living room.

Bloom wearily poked her head out from the kitchen and Andy almost collapsed right on the spot as he breathed a sigh of relief. Then he remembered, _"Kill her?"_

He headed straight for her and roughly grabbed her arm to deposit her on the couch in the living room despite Bloom's protests.

"Andy, what are you doing?!" she whimpered.

At the moment, he was insensible; incapable of forming a coherent thought. He said the first thing that came to mind: "What the fuck did you do, Bloom?"

"Wh-what? What happened?" Bloom rubbed the part of her arm that Andy had grabbed and made a pitiful face. Her face had a new coat of tears on them. Had she been crying while he was away? Screw it, there were other things to deal with it.

"I just saw Sky now at the grocery." Andy paced back and forth and ran his hands through his hair. "Fuck, Bloom, what did you do? He wants to fucking kill you!"

"WHAT?!"

God, why him? Why him of all people? Why did his ex-girlfriend have to come running to him? Good Lord, school was about to start again and he was hiding his ex-girlfriend in the guestroom. Wow, he could so see that going over great if he ever mentioned this Rio or Marc. Just, _why me?_ Andy looked to the ceiling for answers.

Screw God, right now his priority was to find out what had happened. Granted, it's only been less than a day since Bloom arrived but inwardly, he wished none of this had ever happened. Why could she not run to her parents instead?

"I saw Sky and he was talking with some messed up girl with long black hair—in Greek, too, believe it or not."

He looked at Bloom for a hint of something and saw her stiffen. She seemed to have whispered something and then "I should leave," she said all of a sudden.

"Oh no, you don't! Not until you explain to me what happened!" Andy said out of concern. "SIT DOWN!"

She sat back down. She looked at him terrified.

Andy's heart cracked at the sight. "_Who the hell are you, Bloom?!_" Where was the Bloom that he had known in high school? The one with the spine and the audacity to do the right thing?

Bloom had been and still was infuriatingly impossible since last night. He had received no answer and goddamnit, he deserved some. He was blindly floundering around thinking up the worst of situations. He wanted to at least have an idea of what was going. Whatever Bloom had done, he was indefinitely involved now.

"I-I…" Bloom sputtered. "Are you sure about what they said?"

"I don't know! They were speaking Greek. Last time I checked, I wasn't exactly the star of the class."

"But kill me?!"

"That word was pretty clear! Bloom, you have to tell me what happened."

"BUT KILL ME?! Sky wouldn't kill me! I didn't mean to—I didn't mean to-to…"

"I'm calling the police," Andy said all of a sudden. That would definitely help something. He had no idea what but it would be something.

"No, don't!" Bloom went on a triad and ran for the phone.

Andy was quicker and grabbed the cordless phone and ran into the bathroom to and locked the door. This time, nothing would stop him and he would not have second thoughts as soon as he saw tears. He was about to dial when phone began to ring again. _Damn it._ There was no caller ID and Andy answered it angrily.

"Hello?" he said irritated.

"Andy Amorelli?" It was a girl's voice; familiar but chillingly estranged. He did not recognise the voice at all. There was a certain attractive quality to it. It was not exactly high-pitch girlish but deep and giving a sense of practicality. She had no accent.

"Who is this?"

There was a pause.

Ignoring the question, the caller continued. "Andy, is Bloom there?"

"I said 'who is this?!'" Andy said in alarm. Shit, they knew that Bloom was here! What the hell had Bloom done?!

"I have no business with you. Give me Bloom, Andy. This is an important matter that only the princess can hear."

_Princess?_

What the fuck?

Now, they were seriously shitting with him.

"Listen, I don't know who the fuck you are or what the hell did Bloom do but I'm not handing the phone over until you answer some questions!" Andy threatened.

"Thank you for admitting that Bloom is at your house," the caller said cordially like a telemarketer. "We will be there as soon as possible to pick the princess up. Once again, thank you. Oh, oh! _Sky says 'hi!_'" she said in a rather nasty malicious voice. She hung up.

Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!

-

"We have to go—"

"Who was that on the phone?" Bloom cut in as soon as Andy stepped out of the phone. She backed away from the bathroom door clearing having been listening through the door. "You didn't call the police, did you?"

"No. Bloom, we have to go! I don't know what the hell you did but right now, someone is coming and I don't think they're very nice."

"But—!"

"Just get in the car!" He had meant the family car but did he really have time to deal with technicalities?

Andy had this sinking feeling that whatever Bloom had done, it was really serious.

-

"You handled _that_ very well," Tecna sniped. "And slow down!"

"I don't care." Asta flipped her phone shut and shoved it in her pocket. Driving, she took a sharp corner and sped down the street. So, her suspicions had been right. The princess had gone back to her ex. Was it in spite of Sky or because she did not want to be found easily? Either way, it did not work. She had found her in less than a day since the incident with Roxy. Not bad, Asta thought, she probably could have been faster had she not needed sleep or to write incident reports.

Asta came to a halt in front of a nondescript house that looked like every other one on the street. This one had a different pattern of flowers in its front garden that made it different from others. The witch stepped out of the vehicle and went up to ring the doorbell. She waited the customary half-minute before proceeding to stoop down and pick the lock after no one had answered.

"What are you doing?!" Tecna said aghast.

"Picking the lock, what else? Open!" Asta opened the door and sauntered in around the house as if she were checking it out to buy it. At the same time, she extended her mind to scan the place for anything. A glazed look enveloped her eyes as she did so. Tecna stood speechless at the doorstep by the fact that Asta had just broken and entered a house without so much as forethought.

There was no one in the house anyone remotely important, Asta noted but the evidence of the mess such as opened drawers in the living room with messy piles of paper proved that someone had been in a hurry. She looked at the titles without touching them. They looked like important papers. Birth certificates of Caterina Giuliana del Rossi and Stefano Rinaldo Amorelli; passports, insurance, phone bills…where was Andrea Alfeo Amorelli? (At the same time, alliteration much?)

The house was in such a clean state except for the occasional mess in the most random places.

Quickly, Asta stretched her mind thin looking for a certain type of panic and the wafting memory of her voice in someone's mind. If they had ran, it was more than likely that Andy was thinking about what she had said on the phone and her voice would be resonating through the city.

"_Sky says 'hi!'"_ There was a cringe of fear. Asta sent her mind flying over the skies of Gardenia and honed in on a certain navy blue slightly used car speeding down a street ten blocks away. She caught sight of a patch of red hair and the prevalence of fear. Bingo.

-

"Andy, where are we going?!" Bloom whimpered in the passenger seat of Andy' car.

"I don't know." Andy had jumped into the car just after retrieving all his important documents. He had no idea where he was going or what he was going to do but Bloom was obviously in a lot more danger than she had led him to believe. If complete strangers were capable of finding his last name, his _nick_name, his phone number and his address, he would worry and now he was. After a moment of thought, "Rome."

* * *

**Latter Note:** I'm trying not to be nitpicky about what exactly happens in each chapter since I had already planned out 'Andy's Saga' on paper and I don't want to deviate. I hate deviating from the plan. I don't want to be a perfectionist when it comes to individual chapters. I focus more on the overall plot.

Anyways, Asta is on manhunt for Bloom (and Andy) with Tecna along for the ride. Andy is still totally confused; 'princess' did not make it any better. And they're on their way to ROME!

Why Rome? Because I want to keep the locations simple and easy to imagine with the help of Google Earth.

At the same time, you're witnessing Asta's powers. No, they're not like Darcy's. Asta, since she's an original character is obviously to have some special powers. And yes, she is supposed to be a deliberately confusing and A-hole of a person as usual.

I've noticed that I've taken a turn to swearing a lot in recent chapters but I guess it can't be helped considering what had happened. It's supposed to emphasize Andy's confusion.

Anything else I should address?

Oh, hey, trip with the Air Cadets tomorrow to see vintage planes at a museum called Vintage Wing! WHEEE!


	23. Chapter 23

**Verboten  
****Chapter 23**

Thursday, October 8, 2009

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Winx Club.

**Fore Note:** To be serious, I took a certain amount of time researching the geography of Italy to see how long this trip would be. Turns out from Google maps, it would take about a day to travel the length of Italy non-stop from the tip of the booth to somewhere near Switzerland but it would take about two to three days real time including eating, pit stops, getting gas, sleeping, tolls, traffic, etc. (I used Switzerland to Catanzaro, Italy and Livorno to Rome as my basis for my guesses.)

* * *

In the warehouse, construction was moving forward still despite what was happening. Nothing could stop it. There were some days where it had felt like no work had been done at all and days when it had felt as if they had gone overboard. The barracks were finished, the plumbing and electric was installed, the magical reality chamber was complete, everything except for the computer. Everything now revolved around the computer. Once it was done, the warehouse would be complete. It was not exactly safe as a real military base but what on Earth would attack them besides the Black Circle?

Sky paced in circles in one of the barracks, sat down on one of the bunks and then began pacing again. The room was small and square with white walls and a new blinding-white fluorescent light. It contained two metal frame bunk beds that lined the walls. Each had a couple of black plastic boxes stacked on top of each other at the foot of the beds.

"Damn it," he swore and ran his hands through his hair nervously. He had dark bands under his eyes.

Chandra had consigned him to the barracks after seeing his lack of sleep and his haphazard sleeping schedule. "It's unhealthy and makes for bad habits," she said and pointed him to the barracks. Sleeping was the last thing on the blond king's mind when there was someone on her deathbed in his MIR and her mind had yet to come out of her strange coma.

Chandra had used her telepathic abilities to read Roxy's mind for signs of life. It taken hours of careful probing trying to understand how Roxy's mind was organised and the woman had sifted through years worth of long-term memory and the mysteriously missing short-term memory before getting to the center of her mind, her sleeping consciousness. The dark woman had described the experience as facing an impenetrable never-ending black wall. That was not a good sign and it did not bode well with Sky at all.

And then there was Bloom who was missing.

Sky refused to even think about it her. He just could not face her in his thoughts and he surely did not know what would happen if he ever got facing her again. What would he do? What would _she_ do? Would she throw a fireball at him again?

As hard as it was to admit, his fiancée was a volatile emotional train wreck getting hit with one thing after another. First, she finds out she is guardian of the terrifying power and is pulled into saving the universe so many times and then she finds her real _alive_ parents.

Gods, was life supposed to be this hard? Granted, not everyone was destined for the throne but why was keeping in check with one's own fiancée so hard?

Damn it all, sometimes he wondered why his fiancée did some of the things she? What was wrong with her? At random moments, she seemed to do the opposite what logically should have happened. Why do this when you could clearly do that? Magic was not the only answer and Sky was infuriated by her constant need to rely on it. Why? _Why?_

They needed to serious talk and clear the air. He planned to do that as possible. Possibly lock themselves in a small room or barrack with a table and two chairs and talk it out, or maybe conjure something like that in the magical reality chamber in case it got nasty.

He preferred the latter but liked the former because it was more real.

Screw it, Sky flicked the lights off and threw himself unto a bunk to try and fall asleep again.

-

It worked. For maybe a half hour or even a full hour.

The darkness of the room was a welcomed comfort to the blonde's eyes, he realised. Laying on the bed was a welcomed comfort to his body too. He had not realised that his body was so tense. Sweet darkness. His sleep was not dreamless. In fact, he embraced the dreams as an entertainment to get away from real life.

His dream began randomly like any other. He was assaulted with colours and it all swirled into one image: a dense forest and a roaring river. A glance around showed him that he was in a familiar place. Looking at the sky, he saw a familiar back of mountains over the top of the trees. Greedily, he took a deep breathe. The scent of the forest was so clean and untainted unlike Earth's. This was Eraklyon. He missed home terribly.

Like a child, Sky began to skip over stones to cross the river. He did not know why but he liked it. The water rushed up the rocks and the spray kissed his ankles. Birds were singing their songs and the trees and bushes rattled with animal activity. Inside of him, all felt right. Every sound melded into a single harmonious symphony created by nature and he could even understand the songs of the birds.

"Sky, turn around," his mother commanded imperiously from her perch on a tree. She wore a deep red gown and her golden circlet was gloriously tangled in her red hair. Her eyes bespoke a seriousness that had him worried immediately.

Sky realised that this was not a dream at all. It was a direct mental message from his mother galaxies away. "Is something wrong, Mother?" he asked.

"Must there always be something amidst if one wants to see their child?" she said archaically. Her voice was deep and commanding, soothing and gentle with the strength of a knowing mother. Her being shimmered in the sunlight as if she were not totally there physically. She stood on a tree branch with her hands folded in front of her. Her dress danced in the wind and jewels sparkled brightly, almost blindingly. His mother, Samara was always an observer and a listener and her eyes had a light that spoke of her timeless and invaluable knowledge.

At the moment, her eyebrows were lowered in at a harsh angle that told of irritation and impatience. Sky became slightly alarmed by it.

"One assumes so since that is what one does most of the time," he said harshly. He knew about his mother's concerns about his choice of wife still bothered her. He could not blame her because she wanted the kingdom to be in good hands but at the same time, he wished she would treat him like an adult, like a peer.

She gave a hurt look and Sky immediately regretted his words.

"Mother, this is my dream. You're invading my mind. You could have just made a phone call if you wanted to see me badly. What's wrong?"

His mother gave him an odd mournful look. "You have to come home soon, Sky. I need to speak to you in person." She looked like she wanted to say more. She added, "Bring Bloom."

"Absolutely not," stood on the tip of Sky's tongue but he remained silent. "Why?" he asked.

"I want to speak to her, as well. Sky, do not ask!" she snapped in irritation.

Sky cringed slightly. "Mother, I don't know when this mission will end. Or even_ how_! How do you expect me get back to Eraklyon in time?" he reasoned. It was totally ridiculous. What did his mother want again? Was she going to try and scare her again as test to her devotion to him?

"Sky, I'm not asking you to leave Earth tomorrow. I'm just asking that as soon as you get off planet, get to Eraklyon—even if the mission isn't over."

"Mother…?" Sky said helplessly and confused. He wanted to ask more when the image of the forest began to swirl.

Then there was darkness.

-

"Your Imperial Majesty…Sky. Sky!" Chandra shook the blond king roughly by the shoulder. "Sky, wake up!"

Sky turned and yawned. "What's going on?"

"A phone call for you," the psychologist said. His life seemed to revolve around phone calls now.

He took the cell phone to his ear. "Hello?" he said drowsily and rubbed his eyes. The lights were off but the opened door let light from the hallway spill in.

"Sky," Asta sniped. "I found Bloom."

Sky sat up straight and banged his head on the bunk above. (Chandra cringed from the sound.) Please, merciful powers that be, let her be safe. He had no idea what the dangers of Earth but they could not be much different from Magix.

"She's on the run with Andy," she continued. "To this country's capital, Rome."

Sky's heart sunk like rock with disappointment at the mention of Andy's name. What did that mean then about their relationship?

"What do I do? They're about to leave the city. Tecna is still with me."

Sky shook his head. Why the hell was he being so emotional? He was on a mission and Bloom almost jeopardised it and possibly the rest of the universe, he reminded himself. Steeling himself, Sky squared his shoulders and stood up. He left the barrack with Chandra in his wake.

He would not let such mistakes go by easily. His mother and father had taught him better than that. His sojourn away from Magix as he trained to become king just before going to rescue Bloom's planet had taught him mistakes made people weak. Mistakes were intolerable when something as big as Roxy was involved. Regrets were unacceptable for the conscience as it hindered him from moving forward. He was expected to be cold, to be cruel, and to be fair. No emotions could or should divert him from making the right choice. He might not have to like the _right choice_ but he still had to do it.

This was just like when he pulled Oritel's sword out of its stone in Obsidian. For all he knew, the sword could have eaten him up with its flickering blue and white flames. He still did not know what had happened exactly beyond that murky gate after Riven, deep in the thralls of Mandragora's spell, had pulled the key out but finding his beloved Bloom on the cavern floor with the three spectres of the Ancestral Witches swarming her body and urging her to pull the sword, he had known what to do. He knew the prophecy by heart then: _"A crownless king will save the king of a lost reign, and that which is lost will come to be."_ It did not mean much since it was only a prophecy and he was wary to put his faith on some words foretold long before he was even born.

Quietly making his way to Oritel's glowing sword while the witches swarmed over Bloom, he heard what Bloom had said: "The man who forged it said only a king with a noble heart can hold it!"

Staring at the sword, he had taken a leap of faith. What if he had not been the king foretold? What if it had been just sheer luck that he had recently become king? What if he was not of noble heart? Sky never thought of him as exceptionally noble. He might have been good at the sword and be the most well-mannered person in a room but that did not mean he was not prone to his occasional vices like pride, greed, maybe even a little lust now and then and most recently, wrath. Either way, he had to do something before Bloom gave in. Without thinking any further, he made his decision. If it killed him, fine; at least he had done something.

Putting his hand around the pommel and studying the glowing eyes of the dragons on the hilt, the fire had not burn him at all. It was then when he had in earnest pulled the sword out of the wretched stone and that was when he blacked out. He supposed that was the part when the sword was searching inside of him for the 'noble heart' of yore.

At the time, Sky did not have a lot of time to think of the implications of the situation but had he not done something, what would have been the future? A world with strife and fear as the witches tried to destroy the universe? He could not look back and wonder. He could not regret, could not feel sorry. What was done was done and that sword represented the end of one chapter in his life and beginning of the next as a king, a peer to Oritel and Miriam, to Luna and Radius, to Erendor and Samara and to all the other countless and nameless kings, queens, presidents, prime ministers and politicians.

Bloom was a danger whether she liked it or not. She was the danger. The girl was the walking source of energy for the creation of the universe and anything could happen with her. He would be taking no chances with her.

Sky began to speak clearly. "I'm sending a squad to catch up with you. Eight bikes, four cars and four levas in the air to follow. Your mission is to capture Bloom and Andy by force if necessary. I want them _alive_. Break some bones, if you have to but _alive_. Assume Andy is innocent and relay no message pertaining to the mission to him. Once captured, he is considered a political refugee until further notice. Do not release him under any circumstance. Bring him straight to the warehouse."

"And Tecna?"

"Once the squad catches up to you, one car will stop and you will transfer Tecna to that car. Lieutenant, you are to pursue Andy after transfer."

"Yes, sir."

"I'm giving you to Chandra." Sky nodded to Chandra to track the phone's signal.

Sky stepped into the main part of the warehouse near the kitchen and nodded to everyone in the vicinity. There were about a dozen people. "You heard what I said. Get moving." This included Brandon, Riven and Timmy whom stood up immediately.

"Not overdoing this much?" Riven quirked an eyebrow as they all wove their way to the weapon depot. Someone summoned a several motorbikes that shimmered into existent, then couple of sturdy armoured trucks and then four levabikes. They were all lined in a formation with bikes surrounding the trucks ready to move out.

"With Bloom, nothing is too much, Riven," Sky said critically.

Brandon gave him a worried look.

-

This felt terribly ironic for some reason. Riven could not put his finger on it but it did. They were suiting up to capture their best friend's fiancée…that just really had a strange ring to it.

The boys stepped into a locker-room and began to change. Riven changed into his red jumpsuit that he had not used in years since he entered Red Fountain. Red Fountain had handed him a standardised suit and therefore his own red suit was left to hang in his closet. It felt strange to change into something that was not blue actually. In the locker-room, Brandon was beside him changing into his own suit that was green with dark green stripes.

"To think we actually graduated," the squire noted as he shrugged on a shirt of protective armour and then his jacket.

"Who would have thought that we would get out of those stupid uniforms and capes?" he said back.

Riven suddenly rejoiced at the thought for some reason. They would not have to wear those ridiculous capes anymore.

After changing, he was handed a pair of guns and a supply of magazines from the depot. They fitted his right arm with an ion blaster as well. Were they expecting him to shoot Bloom down while she was flying? That would certainly be a first.

As Riven mounted his bike, a regular motorbike fitted with an enhanced silent and more efficient engine than the ones on Earth, he realised that this was really their first mission as a _free man_. He was doing this by choice and what he was about to do was a little disturbing. The implications were mind-boggling until he saw Timmy walk right by him shouldering a long black rectangular case.

Timmy wore a jumpsuit of his own: black with grey and yellow stripes that really showed his sinewy body. His glasses were replaced with a sleek pair of tinted goggles. Riven could respect that not everyone was buff like him or Brandon. Helia was testimony to that but what worried him was the case. Timmy placed the case on the edge of the truck at the back doors.

Riven whose bike was just behind that specific truck got a good view of what in the case as Timmy opened it to inspect its contents. There were several long tubes, an assorted amount of scopes, several cartridges and the rifle itself. Timmy inspected every piece meticulously.

"Timster, that is not what I think it is."

"I know what you're thinking." Timmy sighed and adjusted his goggles. Riven could see the other man's eyes dart from corner to corner as the computer on the goggles fed him information.

"You wouldn't really shoot someone with that, would you?"

"I would prefer not to. I'm going to try for tranqs, first." He pointed to the case with several lethal needles.

A sniper rifle.

They were really going to capture Bloom.

Holy shit.

-

"Dude, this is wrong," Brandon stated right away before Sky could say anything. "It does not take this many people to capture a fairy princess and a human both with no military training."

Brandon mounted his bike while Sky stood at the side near the wall making sure everything went smoothly.

"This is Bloom we're talking about, Brandon. I don't want to be harsh but we don't know how much damage she could cause. I…Great Gods, I'm going to make the world's worst husband but I'm not going to take the chance with you or anybody else on the line," Sky said detachedly. "I don't want to walk up to your mother and father handing them your dog tag and explaining the circumstances of your death. KIA does not make a great honourable discharge on your file."

"What could she possibly do?"

"We're talking about the Guardian of the Dragonfire."

Brandon heaved a deep breathe with disdain towards Sky's attitude and fitted his helmet on. "Those months away have made you a cold person, Sky. What happened to you, dude? I barely know you."

-

Asta flipped her phone close and drove steadily after Andy's car. It had taken them a while and several shortcuts to catch up to them. They were now two cars away from them and Asta had a continually glazed look about her eyes as she stretched her mind to hear the conversation in the Andy and Bloom's car. In the passenger seat sat Tecna. It was bumper to bumper traffic as the two cars tried to leave the city on a highway. It was slow mainly due to the end of the same construction going on much to the chagrin of everyone.

"What's the plan?" Tecna asked as she looked out the window.

"We're pursuing them. Sky is sending a team to help us corner them. On the way, you're going to transfer to a car that will bring you back home. For now, I'm going to only follow them until we get to somewhere open and deserted where less people are likely to see or get hurt."

"Wait, you're sending me back?!"

"You think you could contribute to us somehow?"

Tecna's anger reached its apex and finally, she let out on the witch. "What is your problem?!" Tecna turned in her seat and clenched and unclenched her hands into fists. "Why are you so difficult?!" the fairy yelled her frustration out at the witch. "I'm not an object! Stop treating me like one!"

Asta calmly stared straight at the traffic with her hands on the wheel. The infuriating witch just sat there breathing and staring which enraged Tecna even more. Moodily, Tecna turned in her seat with her arms crossed and stared at the construction.

"I'm sorry."

Tecna turned to see the witch at the corner of her eyes. The witch had not moved but she continued to speak.

"I'm sorry if you're angry with me," Asta said mechanically. "I've probably been extremely rude."

The silence hung in the car for a long moment.

"Why?" Tecna asked.

"Why 'what?'"

"Why are you like this? Why are you doing this?! _Why is Sky doing this?!_" Tecna said waving her arms, feeling antagonised. "For the love…why is this happening?!" Tecna said more to universe itself than Asta.

Confusion, helplessness, lack of control, they are swirled around the tech fairy like a heavy nimbus, Asta felt. Asta suddenly understood Tecna's stress in a blink of an eye and the witch's heart became heavy with the knowledge.

"Is life going too fast for you to understand?"

"Wha…yes." Tecna stopped abruptly and rested her head on one hand. "How did you know?"

"When you first went to Alfea, what did you want to be?" Asta drove the car slowly.

"What do you mean?"

"Your childhood dream, your dream job. What was it?"

"It was—what does this have to do with anything?" Tecna immediately got defensive, naturally. Even though she had nothing against her, Asta was after all still a witch.

"I wanted to be a forensic scientist. I studied at the University of Magix on a scholarship," Asta supplied readily.

"You went to Magix?"

"Of course."

"When did you graduate?"

"I never graduated."

Asta gave the digital fairy a brief explanation of how she was being stalked, her dropping out and continuing her career in the military without the cultural explanations. "It was just too dangerous for me to stay in Magix. What with the entire stigma against witches and all after Valtor's defeat and the Trix evading capture again. You should know how it is."

"Can't you just transfer to another university or apply again? I'm sure it's changed by now," Tecna said heatedly.

"And waste another three years of my life, Tecna? I've had enough of school. What respectable university would take me after seeing my records? All they're going to see is a dropout who left for 'personal reasons.' The records are not going to explain why I left."

"But that's not right," Tecna argued. "You have the right to an education."

"I also have the right to live the way I want to but that didn't happen when I was in Magix."

"What if you sued or something?"

The witch had moved so fast that Tecna thought she was going to hit her. Asta fixed her a harsh look, offended. "And where do you think I would get the _money _for that, huh?!" she almost screamed. "You damn Alfea scholarship fairies have it so nice with your dorms and your lakeside view outside of the city! I had to pay for my _own_ apartment and part of my tuition fee as well as my visa for semi-permanent residence. I had to _work_ part time and _pay _the cost of living in Magix. After all of that, you think I'm going to easily find some brilliant lawyer and sue everyone who has harassed me. You fairies are fucking impossible! Ever heard of _living_!"

"Hello! We're paying for the shop and loft right now as well as the expenses, too!"

"Four of you are technically titled as princesses with enough money to buy this entire planet. I didn't own a successful business that could give me extra money to buy everything I wanted."

"We don't even have money to some of the things we would like, too!"

"And yet you have so much free time to spend at the bar drinking smoothies?!"

"Well, look at you always hanging out there everyday!"

"Because my job revolves around watching Sky!" Asta hissed.

Tecna did not rebuttal. She kept silent and turned in her seat to stare at traffic again. Whatever sort of bonding had occurred, it had festered and died immediately.

-

Asta's cellphone rang again and it was Sky.

"You just left the city, right?" he asked on the loudspeaker as Asta steadily drove just behind Andy. It was about four o'clock and both girls had been rather silent.

"Right," Asta said. "Where's the backup?"

"They're going to be portalled ahead of you. Rome is, at its shortest route, a four hour drive still and the night is starting to come in early for Daylight Savings soon. They'll have to stop for food at some point as well, I think."

"So you're saying that maybe we can plan a sort of blockade on their route 'tomorrow?'"

"Unless they drive the night through. Can you possibly nitpick his mind for clues as to which roads he'll use and where he might be staying? A motel or something."

Tecna's ears perked up in interest to Asta's powers. The digital fairy turned and looked at Asta carefully as her eyes glazed over and her black-brown eyes became a milky swirl of dark stormy greys.

Asta saw her mind's eye leave her body and sore above the car they were in like a bird. Her mind zoomed over cars and passed trucks until she came to a now familiar dark blue car. She passed through the hood and straight into Andy's mind.

She saw images of hazy almost illegible signs pointing to various roads and towns. It was what he had scene or currently was seeing. She tried to delve into his thoughts for a bit looking for clues of direction.

"_We go through Follonica, first and then pass Punta Ala…"_

Asta's mind went whizzing back to her original body and everything blurred until she was her own car again.

"He's heading to somewhere called Follonica. F-O-L-L-O-N-I-C-A," Asta spelled out. "He mentioned passing a place called Punta Ala."

"Got it. Tecna, you're return car should be coming up behind you soon."

"…thanks," Tecna said curtly.

"Asta, keep following them until further notice. Avoid any and all confrontations with them," Sky continued. "The road they're taking is still heavily populated with towns."

"Yes, sir."

-

Andy drove into a diner on the side of the road just outside a small town. It was starting to darken. The sky was a mix between orange and dark blue with purple and pink clouds. Time was going faster than he had expected. They had been driving for two hours straight and his nerves were absolutely fried. The car had been silent the entire drive and it had grown unbearable. Bloom had sat in the passenger seat and said nothing while questions flew in and out of Andy's chaotic mind as he tried to grasp what he had just done. They had run away on a silly pretext that Bloom was going to be killed.

No, that was not silly. That was serious. Deadly, even. What was he saying? Of course it was deadly and serious.

He needed answers fast before he went any further on this crazy journey. Grabbing a window booth, they both ordered something to eat without much thought. As long as they ate, he was happy.

Waiting for food, Andy started speaking. "Bloom, you have to tell me what you did." That was it. That was all he wanted to know.

Andy watched Bloom's face go through various changes at a time. Her brows arched low while she bit her lip; her eyes were downcast as she seemed to contemplate; she looked around the restaurant at all the patrons as she rubbed her hands nervously. Suddenly, she raised her eyes to him. They were haunted and estranged. They were big and bright and blue as ever shining with the innocence of a child. It was filled with hope and briefly, even the hint of an adventurous smile appeared on her mouth. Seeming to wake up from some strange drugged sleep, she spoke. She was still subdued and spoke in broken sentences but at least it was something.

"I did something…I didn't mean to—I mean, it just happened. I never meant for it to happen. I just thought it was right…y'know, it _seemed_ right at the time…"

Bloom continued on no more as food arrived at their table. Personally, Andy was famished and he did not press on about the subject until later.

-

"A room for two," Andy said to the motel receptionist. The receptionist was some haughty woman with obviously and badly dyed brown-red hair. Andy did not take to her at all with the way she looked at him. Considering the time (it was about eight) and suddenness of coming in, he could not entirely blame her but life was not always fair and Andy's life was a weird sort of emotional rollercoaster that he did enjoy at all.

At the moment, he was not being too entirely picky where they slept as long as it was not in the car or under a bridge. The receptionist quirked an eyebrow at Bloom in her weary state and then at Andy. Andy glared and hoped to God that the woman did not get any smart ideas about calling the police for some type of weird drug suspicion. After filling out his information and paying some ridiculous amount, Andy guided Bloom to their room upstairs.

As soon as the door was closed and he slid all the bolts home, he threw himself onto the bed ungraciously. He turned on his side to look out the window. Bloom had taken a seat on the chaise.

The room was not particularly noteworthy. It had a bed, a desk, a TV, a phone, a few chairs and chaise and other pieces of matching furniture that were not exactly boring nor were they inspiring. The sheets and curtains were blue and there was a small balcony. Just like a hotel should be, he supposed.

They had not continued traveling because Andy had to admit, what the hell was he doing? They had drove for almost two somewhat hours straight. Bloom had only arrived at his house the night before but the incriminating clues that something bad was at work was written all over it. He needed more answers.

"Bloom, what did you do?" he asked, not facing her.

This time, Bloom did not answer for a long time. For a long time that it made Andy worry and turn over to see Bloom's eyes watering again. She sniffled and Andy got up immediately to kneel at her feet.

"Is Sky mad at you?" he said gently.

"I-I…" She stared at him helplessly.

"Bloom, just say it. I won't judge. I promise." Andy steeled his heart for whatever atrocity that might have happened. Whatever mistake Bloom made, he was sure it was not the end of the world.

"W-will you believe me?"

"Of course."

"No, you wouldn't," she said weakly.

"Try me, Bloom," he dared her. Andy was sad to see Bloom in such a depressing state. Why could she not believe him? He had changed his tactics. He would not force or yell at her for the truth. He would gently bring it out with gentle words and firm reassurances.

"How far are you willing to believe?" she asked with watery eyes.

Andy took her hands into his and held them reassuringly. "Everything."

If only he had known what that had meant.

* * *

**Latter Note: **Cripes, I made Timmy a sniper. You know you're insane if you make good ol' Timmy a sniper. Anything else I should remark on? Actually, there is a lot that I could comment on but I don't want to. Too lazy. Plus, I have to get ready for my grad photos tomorrow.

Follonica and Punta Ala are real places between Livorne and Rome.

"It is not at all simple to understand the simple." -Eric Hoffer (World of Quotes: October 18, 2007)

"The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra." -Unknown (World of Quotes: April 9, 2007)

PS: _Cripes, I made Timmy a sniper…_

PSS:_ Omigod, I'm graduating high school… _o.0;


	24. Chapter 24 The Lies

**Verboten  
****Chapter 24**

Monday, October 12, 2009

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Winx Club.

**Fore Note:** I don't have anything to actually say. Hmm, wow.

* * *

The night was windy, a sure sign of what was to come in the coming months on Earth. Autumn was slowly and subtly gliding its way across the Earth to cover its inhabitants in its golden glow as humans revelled in the last glorious days of summer before school and work officially kicked in for everyone and they soon have to retreat to their homes. The sky was dotted with white clouds occasionally hiding the moon and stars were visible but only the brightest of them could be seen from the light pollution.

In a quaint town by the western shore of Italy, the darkened town was lit with only the lights of streetlamps, neon signs and cars. This was quaint little Follonica known for its pristine beaches and clean seawater. Follonica, a Tuscan touristic town often visited by Italians themselves.

Vacation season was almost over and most of the hotels were starting to decrease in population quickly much to the advantage of Andy who easily got a room for both Bloom and him. In their room on the second floor of the hotel Parrini, Andy knelt down at Bloom's feet as she sat on a chaise. The musician held her hands firmly in his, believing that this would open her up to tell him what had happened.

Inside, he wanted to believe dearly that whatever she had done was a reversible mistake. Something that could be replaced or paid for, no matter the amount. He wanted to believe that whatever Bloom had done, no matter how much damage, she had done it with the best intentions in her heart. He wanted to believe that she had done the right thing.

The Bloom he knew was not evil.

"I think I killed someone," she whimpered. "I didn't mean to. I thought it was the right thing. I didn't think something like that could happen," she babbled with teary eyes. "And now Sky wants to kill me! I really didn't mean it, Andy! I swear! You believe me, right? Right?"

Andy froze. "How—who did you kill…?"

"I-I…_Roxy_…"

_ROXY?_ Andy's mind reeled and he began to recount every memory he had of the pink-haired girl. What the hell did Roxy have to do with anything?

Bloom eyes shed new tears and she fell off of her chair and into Andy's embrace. She cried into his shoulder and held him tightly. "I didn't mean to! Oh God, Andy, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to get you involve! I never meant to—"

"Then what does Sky have to do with this?" Andy disentangled her from him and held her by the shoulders away from him. He wanted to ask "Who is Sky?" but he held his tongue.

"We came back to Gardenia to find somebody…and that somebody was Roxy. Some—_bad people_ were after her and we were supposed to protect her," she said in broken sentences. "Instead, I ended up giving her something that almost killed her! I didn't mean to. It's just I didn't _know_!" Bloom trembled with her lips moving as if she wanted to say more and Andy brought her into his embrace again. "I didn't think Sky would kill me! Andy, I don't wanna die!"

Andy pulled her against him and ran a soothing hand up and down her back. He sat with his back to the bed and his chin on her head as she cried into his chest. The musician swallowed hard and tried to understand.

Memories of the guys at bar fighting and on the beach during their breaks; the robbery; the way they dealt with Klaus's injuries; the way they treated the robbers with militaristic indifference after they were disarmed.

The way Sky threw that knife and his calm face after the fact. That man was not normal; maybe not even _human_. There was no way in hell that he was a regular Greek exchange student. Not with the way they fought. That man knew how to fight for someone so young. There was no way that this guy had anything resembling a normal childhood. Sky's very presence screamed a certain plastic quality about how he acted and the military precision that he and his friends acted with proved that something was up. If Helia was capable of breaking a man's arm and Nabu was able to sneak in undetected to help Riven fight, then what were the others capable of?

What were highly skilled and knowledgeable men doing working at a bar? Or even in Gardenia? And what did Roxy have to do with all of this?

Bloom held him tightly and he cooed soothing syllabic sounds into her hair like he would to a baby.

"Bloom, tell me what exactly happened. I don't know what Roxy has to do with anything but I'm not going to let you die."

-

It was an hour later, almost around midnight when Andy tried to get her to speak. He had no choice, he had to. He needed the answers so he could try to plan out what was going to happen tomorrow. This was after he had sobered her up and urged her in the direction of the bathroom to clean up.

The woman was a wreck. She needed her own sense of privacy and a way for her to collect herself so Andy relegated her to the bathroom as he tried to deal with his own confusion.

Being part of an attempted robbery, or witness to it, was a strange and definitely frightening experience. For once in his life, Andy thought he was going to die. That's it. It's the end.

Everything had happened so fast that he wondered if it had actually happened at all. He had been far from the action but his view on the stage was perfect. He had not notice the robbers until it was too late and they had fired a magazine into the ceiling. With his heart pounding against his ribcage, instinct told him to stop singing and get down on the ground, as low as possible. So he dropped his guitar and jumped off the stage, obscuring himself behind a table while Marc and Rio ran behind the speakers or curtains.

The sound of bullets flying through air rung in the air as some of the men tried to corral him with some patrons and Sky into the corner of the room near the stage stairs.

"Hands in the air! Do as I say and no one gets hurt!" the apparent leader said and then barked some more orders to his men.

"Move it!" one of the robbers growled and pointed a gun at him and then to the corner of the stage with other patrons.

Trembling, Andy moved over slowly with his hands in the air and not turning his back to the man. Andy had found himself in a group of patrons and waiters including Jenny and Sky. Jenny sat huddled deep in the corner behind Sky's back. Sky was tensely kneeling on one knee and his hands levelled with his face to show that he had no weapons. (Which later turned out to be a lie.)

The man was insane! He was bravely or stupidly staring down the barrel of one of the masked robbers as if he were studying it. What the hell?! He had on a straight face, no fear or panic showing. Sky was the image of calm and collected as he took in the situation, looking at the patrons who were corralled into his corner and the person who had forced them there.

Sky even threw reassuring words over his shoulder to a panic-stricken Jenny, a girl with a purple bob and green eyes wearing a pink shirt with denim shorts, who was hyperventilating and hiccupping. "Jenny, just close your eyes, okay? Everything is going to be fine," he had said gently.

A bullet ripped through the air and Andy turned to see Klaus drop to the ground. Andy's heart froze as Roxy screamed. Death seemed more then imminent.

Andy had wanted to close his eyes himself hoping for the nightmare to be over and almost did had it not been for his curiosity. For some stupid reason, there had been some type of argument near Roxy and the cash register. Something to do with Helia not complying about turning around. In end, he was glad that he had not closed his eyes as he saw Helia throw a pot of presumably boiling water and leaping over the counter at the robber.

He wasn't sure what had happened but he was sort of glad that it did. Bullets rip through the air again. Somehow Riven appeared out of nowhere dropping from the ceiling rafters to knock out a pair of unknowing robbers over the head with well-aimed kicks and then Andy knew he was done for.

Closing his eyes, not wanting to see Riven riddled with bullets, magazines were emptied into Riven's body yet there had not been sort of yell of pain or anything. In fact, it sounded like bullets had hit the walls and ceiling instead.

Then there was a scream, a woman's, and Andy forced his eyes opened as he saw a patron in a white dress perform a well executed flying roundhouse kick to two robbers who fell easily like dolls. Shit, that was Asta, Andy realised latently.

Then he saw Sky running to a near by table, picking up an empty serving tray and throwing it at a masked robber's head right between the eyes and apparently knocking him out cold. Then he saw him shove a hand into his back pocket and draw out a thin but long switchblade. Sky wore a still calm but intent expression that scared Andy. How could he be so calm?! Using his thumb to slide out the shiny black blade, Sky threw it at one crawling robber who screamed in pain as the knife dug itself into his back.

The robber that had corralled them was on the ground in his own puddle of blood and Andy averted his eyes.

Brandon was standing near the door of bar armed with two filched guns aimed at Asta and Andy's heart raced at the sight. Asta herself was surrounded by moaning robbers. There were more robbers scattered on the floor, one with a wooden handled steak knife in his back and some clutching their legs. In the middle of the room, Riven stood apparently unharmed with Nabu in fighting stances and breathing heavily. The redhead was supposed to be freaking _dead_. What the hell had happened?!

One man screamed profanities at Helia as the artist who sat on the robber's chest and pressed some pressure point on the man's apparently useless arm. The man screamed again to then become quiet and start whimpering in some unknown pain.

And then Sky said something about not being exciting enough and everything had happened in a blur as Sky asked patrons to stay and calm down as they called the police.

-

As soon as Bloom got out of the bathroom, Andy went in and showered. It had been an awkward ordeal seeing as they only had the clothes that they had on their backs. For a bit of time, Andy spent it staring at the soap that Bloom had used. The soap was soap. It was not perfumed or anything. It was just that it had been used by Bloom. Where did that put him between Sky and Bloom's supposed relationship? Was he reading into it too much?

Andy told himself that they would have to do something about clothes later. Starting or picking up from their conversation from before, Andy and Bloom sat on chaises around a table beside the balcony door. Bloom stared at the knots in the table while Andy looked at her intently. The room was lit but outside was a portrait of darkness making Andy feel like they were the only people in the world.

Surprisingly, Bloom started. "I came back to—_Gardenia_ because we had to find Roxy and protect her," she said in a stiff voice.

Andy cut in. "Who is 'we?'"

"Me, the girls, the guys and Sky's people."

Something was definitely up with Sky.

"How is Sky a part of this?" he asked.

Bloom's mouth froze as she fell into a reverie. "It all started…four years ago just before I left."

The same time when she left for Greece?

"I met Stella in the park and…she was in trouble. A tro—somebody was after her and I came across the fight…"

Andy sensed that she was still withholding information judging from her mishaps. Her words were carefully chosen. A tro-_what_?

"Stella said I had—_talent_ and she introduced to me to some people to help me realise it." Bloom seemed to be deliberately replacing some words as she went on.

"And these people were…?"

"Sky, Timmy, Riven and Brandon."

"What about Helia and Nabu?"

"They weren't there then. The night that the guys came over, my house was attacked by the same—_people_ who were after Stella."

"Why Stella?"

"She had a—_valuable item_. After the attack, they convinced me and my parents that it would be better if I left with them because I had—talent." Bloom immediately covered her mouth and started to hiccup again.

"They didn't force you, did they?!" Andy said in alarm. "What did they threaten you with?!" he almost screamed.

"No, nothing, no threats. It's just—Sky…he was so…he was so different…he had been _Brandon_ at the time. Oh God, he had lied to me and I was so mad…I-I…"

"What?!"

"Brandon and Sky had switched identities to keep Sky safe. Sky is…he is a—very—important person that must not die."

"So then, who is Sky? Is your boyfriend, the blond one I mean, is he Brandon or Sky?"

"He's Sky."

"What happened after that?"

-

"I left with Stella to go back with her to school. There were three schools, each with different—missions. These were schools for people with special talents. Alfea, Cloud Tower and Red Fountain. I went to Alfea with Stella and met the other girls. The boys went to Red Fountain."

Bloom painted a world straight from a book. There had been Alfea, a school for girls with talent and an inclination towards the good and moral; Cloud Tower, another girls' school with darker intentions churning out some very nasty-sounding women and lastly, Red Fountain, a boys' school, by Andy's definition that spit out cold and heartless mercenaries like Sky. These three schools had all bordered a lake in some nameless region that he assumed to be Greece and they had worked together to find some type of unity.

Bloom did not go into detail about what they taught at those schools except for Red Fountain, which she easily supplied. Andy filled in the rest with his imagination. If Red Fountain was a military school of sorts, he could only imagine what the two other schools were. Maybe Cloud Tower was a school that turned out merciless spies or killers and Alfea was like that too. He had no clue and did not want to know as Bloom had a hard time just broaching the subject.

Apparently, students from Cloud Tower were the least liked of three schools and often caused trouble.

"Those witches! I hated them so much because they-they did all sorts of horrible things to me!" Bloom whimpered tearfully. "And-and th-then there was gr-graduation… Everyone graduated except for me because I did-didn't meet th-the—_standards_. That's when I came back last summer for a bit…"

"And you left a little before Christmas," he finished. "I'm sorry that I didn't get to you earlier. I had no idea that you were in this kind of trouble," he said in earnest. "If I had known—"

"It's okay…" she said in a quiet voice forgiving him.

"What happened? Why did you leave again?"

"Sky had been gone for some kind of training and I thought that…he-he was cheating on me and-and I…it wasn't true! God, I was so stupid! How could I think of such things?!" Bloom berated herself. "We left because I we had found out something. My…sister, she found me…and…"

"Your _sister_?! You have _sister_?!"

Andy was dumbstruck. He had figuratively been hit by the train. Bloom had a sister? He knew that she was adopted but she had a sister? And her sister had _found _her?

"Oh! I-I found her in the first year at Alfea—" she babbled.

"Omigod, Bloom! WILL YOU LISTEN TO YOURSELF?! You found a sister! _Your sister!_ God, why didn't you tell me this?! I feel like such a dumbass! Like—frig! CONGRATULATIONS!!!"

Then it was Bloom's turn to look dumbstruck and then she started to cry again. "Oh God, you're…thank you, Andy. Thank you," she whispered quietly. "Thank you."

"What's her name?"

"Dafne," she said in a reverent voice.

Just out of sheer joy for Bloom, Andy got up, stepped around the table and pulled Bloom into a hug. For the first time in a long twenty-four hours, Bloom smiled in her tears.

-

Andy handed her a box of tissues and the garbage can she cleaned herself up. Andy sat on the edge of the bed while Bloom in her chaise. She was smiling! Smiling! Albeit, she was teary and with a sniff in her nose but smiling!

"And then I found my parents," she said after clearing her noise.

"They're alive?!"

"Yes."

"But then, how come you were left in a burning building in Gardenia?"

"I…I don't know." Immediately, Bloom's heartbroken face came back. "I haven't gotten the chance to ask them…I haven't seen them since I found them."

Andy cut in. "I think you've told me enough for tonight, Bloom. Let's go to sleep," he said after reading the clock. It was almost two in the morning. Suddenly, the situation of everything caught up in Andy's mind. Sky wanted Bloom dead. They needed to get an early start tomorrow.

"Um, how do we…?" Bloom cut in staring at the bed. The only bed.

It was a queen and could easily fit them both but the implications…

"We'll sleep with out backs to each other," he compromised.

She nodded warily.

The awkwardness was back again. Why hadn't they ordered a cot earlier?

"I'll go turn off the lights. You get into bed." He turned the lights off and went into the bathroom to take a leak and let Bloom settled into the bed. He did it more for the latter as well as to let the idea sink in.

Just before turning off the bathroom light, he stared into the room at Bloom with a sense of uncertainty. What would tomorrow bring? He knew that she had not told the entire truth. The Bloom he knew could not have lied for her life but this was a new Bloom, a Bloom who was engaged for some goddamn reason and then hunted down by her would-be husband.

Turning off the light, he silently crept into bed and turned his back to her like promised.

He still needed answers.

-

"This Earth food is disgusting," Asta remarked at her half-eaten hamburger in yellow wrapping. "I don't understand how understand how these people can eat these things. It practically has no nutritional value!" the witch scoffed the burger and tossed it back into the paper bag. "I can already feel my body suffering from all the excess fat."

Tecna rolled her eyes and bit into her own burger. Her computer sensors immediately told her that it had very little nutritional value as Asta said; at least any nutritional value for their bodies. Who knew what Earth humans needed to subsist? They had driven by a restaurant called MacDonald's and ordered something simple: two BigMac trios as soon as they saw that Bloom and Andy were going nowhere at the diner they ate.

It was dark in the car and both women stared at the hotel that the fairy princess and the musician had chosen to spend the night in. They had killed the lights in the car but left the engine running to provide some warmth. Personally, Tecna would have confronted them right now but apparently Sky, via Asta, had different plans.

The technology fairy had taken to occasionally taking peeks at the witch, not really wanting to admit to herself that she was staring. This witch was more than she appeared on the surface.

She just did not understand her. She did not act like witch. She didn't graduate university, she joined the military, she did not show the classic tendencies of witches, she did not try to bewitch her and she did not wear dark clothes least of all. Not that it was a mandatory but it made it much easier to recognise her. She obviously had a stigma against fairies and she had a sort of dark serious personality. She looked witchy enough but she did not quite act like one.

What was so hard to understand then?!

She was a witch. It was not a hard concept to understand! She had battled hundreds of them at various times, whether they were under Valtor's spell, the Trix themselves or just trying to harass them.

It's just…

It's just…?

Tecna leaned back into her seat and covered her eyes with a hand. She just didn't understand. She wanted something that she could understand, something she could grasp.

Asta fiddled with some features on her cell phone and the radio. Tecna had realised earlier that this was no ordinary Earth car but one modified with advance technology that was clearly from off the planet.

"This is Stryker to crew, do you copy, over?" the witch said mechanically to her phone like it was a walkie-talkie. Upon further inspection, Tecna noticed that the phone was connected to the radio by a thin wire.

"Crew to Stryker, we copy. We're sending you a list of operatives now, over."

"Who am I talking to now?"

"Silversun Gentledew, ma'am."

Tecna quirked an eye at the name and thought no more as she saw a blue holographic window pop up on the dashboard with a list of names. Both women scanned it quickly but Tecna's eyes came to a stop at Timmy's name.

"Timmy's here…?" she whispered.

"Of course, do you want to talk to him?" Asta offered nonchalantly.

"Uh…yes…please."

"As soon as I'm finish then. Silver, what is your location and what is the status on that return car?"

"We're on the outskirts of Punta Ala." Another blue screen appeared on the dashboard with a map that had two blinking locations. "Your return car should be coming in a few minutes, ma'am." The voice was female and had a very girlish child-like quality. She sounded so happy and full of energy despite the hour.

"Has Sky contacted you about any plans?"

"No, ma'am. He is giving you full control since he's back at the warehouse No eyes, you see."

"Good. Is anyone coming to relieve me?"

"Yes, ma'am."

Asta continued to talk into the phone in a sort of bored tone for a few minutes. Tecna tried to listen but the conversation soon jumped into another language, some guttural Eraklyon dialect that Tecna did not know.

"Silver, please get Timmy. Tecna wants to speak to him for a bit."

"Yes, ma'am."

There was some type of babbling as Silver seemed to look for Timmy across the airwaves that made Tecna smile. "Truck two, please put Timmy on the radio. Why are you eating?!"

"Because we're hungry and we have nothing to do!" Then there was more babbling and finally, a familiar voice. Tecna's heart accelerated a little.

"This is Timmy to Asta, do you copy, over?" There was a sigh in the end.

"Asta to Timmy, we copy, over."

"Good. I'm handing you to Tecna now."

"Sure."

Asta handed her the wired cell phone. Strangely enough, she then stepped out of the car and slammed the door closed. She jumped onto the car hood and sat cross-legged to stare at the hotel. There was only one room lit in the hotel and she stared at intently as two people seemed to be discussing at the balcony window.

"Tecna?"

"Yeah, it's me. Are you okay? How did you end up there?" he asked sounding tired. There was the sound of other people talking in the background.

"I'm fine. Tired, but fine." She held the cell phone close to her. "I…I want to go home, Timmy," she said all of sudden. Yes, that was what she definitely wanted.

"Don't worry, as soon as Bloom is caught and this mess is over, you can go home."

"But I want _you_ to come with me!"

"I wish, Tecna, but I have a job to do." He sounded a little distant. Maybe it was because he was talking to her through a device and not in person.

"I know."

There was silence for a moment between them except for Timmy's background noise.

"He bought the shop," Timmy said. He meant Sky.

"I thought as much… Was it this afternoon?"

"Just before dinner. I'm so sorry about everything."

There was silence again as Tecna tried to think of what to say. Instead, Timmy started.

"Would you…would you like to meet my parents, Tecna?" he said in slightly broken words.

The fairy straightened in her seat while her stomach did a flip-flop. Something inside lit up at the prospect. She held the cell phone tightly. "Meet…_your_ parents?!"

"Well, yeah," he said brashly, "Seeing as I've met yours and all. I know they're no king and queen but I—"

"Yes, of course I would like to meet them!" Tecna almost yelled and immediately became red when Asta turned to stare at her through the tinted window. Timmy offering her to meet his family was definitely something big. "But when…?"

"Whenever I get a break from this mission, if that ever happens. It might be for only a couple of days and I need to make a few calls in advance…"

-

Asta sat on the hood of the car staring at the hotel Bloom and Andy were staying at. There was only one window lit and it was definitely those two's. Asta ignored the excitement Tecna was radiating from her being. Her empathic abilities to see and feel other people's feelings were always an annoyance but she learned to ignore the 'emotional noise' over the years. At the moment, the noise was down to only a quiet hum in the background of her mind and she supposed that this was because almost everyone was asleep.

As usual, her mind drifted back to Roxy in the warehouse's MIR hooked up to all sorts of life-preserving machines. She could see the fairy in her mind's eye being watched over by Artos and her serene face betraying no evidence of what had happened to her. What was she going to do about her? Roxy would be of no use to her if she could not do anything at all.

Asta ran a hand through her long dark hair as it fluttered in the wind. It was no use since her hair would not stay put behind her ear but she did it anyways.

She would have to intervene in Roxy's recovery and help Chandra and Artos. There was no doubt in her mind that Chandra would have come to her in the end but timing was important and who knew what would happen once Roxy awoke.

Asta looked up at the lit window where Andy and Bloom's figures were gone and then the light went off. Just then Tecna's car arrived and parked right beside hers. It was black and sleek, apparently called a Ferrari on Earth and definitely made for speed.

The witch knocked on the glass of the front window and pointed to the other car. With a sullen look, the tech fairy put Asta's cell phone done and stepped out of the car. Asta watched her awkwardly step around the car as someone else stepped out of the Ferrari's passenger side to take Tecna's place. It was Helia who wore a midnight blue jumpsuit with his messy hair in a tight ponytail that pulled his bangs out of his face.

The two quietly exchanged greetings and nodded. Then Tecna's escort car left and the two conspirators were left alone in that lonely parking lot to talk.

-

Helia sat on the car hood beside Asta.

"Asta, are you sure about what you're doing?" he said yawning.

"Yes." Inwardly, she wasn't too sure. There were always doubts but those could be dealt with later.

"But isn't it a little too suddenly? You only came up with this plan a few weeks ago."

"I'm not expecting to see the results tomorrow or next month. You know what they say; the world wasn't made in a day. This will take time."

"But _this _could be years from now."

"I have time, Helia."

"And what about Sky?" Helia said in a deadly voice.

Asta bit her lip. Sky was definitely an obstacle. "I can guilt trip him."

"With what? 'Oh, hey, I know something that will make you so immensely guilty that it'll incapacitate you.' That will so go over well with him considering what he has become," he said drily. "What can you possibly hold over that stony heart of his?"

"Helia, no matter how tough, emotionless and monotone Sky is, the man had grown up with emotions. He might not have been born with them but he did learn them."

"Which brings us back to the power versus emotion argument all over again, doesn't it? God, this is high school philosophy class all over again. Why does everything come back to high school?"

"You don't like seeing me?" Asta turned her head slightly to him and brought her knees to her chest.

"Not when you and Flora are in the vicinity. I know something bad is going to happen! I just know it!"

"Helia, I've never talked to her! Ever! I'm doing _this_ for the good of the people."

"I know you are but I don't Flora caught in the crossfire, Asta," the artist said in a quiet tone.

"You love her very much, don't you?"

"Every single bit of her."

"But how much does she love of you, Helia? How much does she know of you? How much does she _have_ of you? She's completely enthralled with you. You almost own her."

"In truth…not much more than the front I've put up these years."

"That's dangerous, Helia. We live a web of lies." Asta raised a glowing purple hand and used a finger to draw words into existence. She wrote 'lies,' 'deceit' and 'forbidden' in the air.

"It is our way of life. It's the reason why we never mate or marry with someone outside the web. You have to tell her," Asta said harshly almost reprimanding him. "If only so she lives."

He cringed. "So what is it that you know that will break Sky?"

"I've figured out something that he does not know."

"Which is…?"

"You know…" she said leaving it hanging.

"I know lots of things, Asta. You need to be more detailed."

"You idiot, you know what it is." Asta casted her eyes to her shoes. She hiccupped nervously and played with her hair.

"But he must know already!" Helia said in alarm.

"No, he doesn't, Helia. No, he doesn't." Her voice took on a choky quality as she hiccupped. "I don't know why but just doesn't know."

"What do you mean 'no, he doesn't?!' Asta, this is serious! You can't hold _that _over him! How can he not know?!"

"He wasn't there to receive the news and Samara gave me specific instructions not to tell him an-and he still doesn't know!" she sobbed. "Three _months_, Helia! And he still doesn't know!"

"Asta, you can't use that. That will only get him angry," he said in a frustrated tone.

"No, it will only weaken him, Helia. Look at the state that Roxy is in. She is not going to wake up from this ordeal like nothing ever happened. It will weaken him and he will not be able to stand in the way."

"But how, Asta? I don't see how _that_ is going to stop him."

"It will, I promise."

"But for the good of the people?"

"For the good of the people."

Helia was silent for a long time staring at the stars above him. "Get in the car and go to sleep, Asta. We have a long day tomorrow."

* * *

**Latter Note:** Hmm, what do I say? I feel like so much is coming to a climax. Before continuing, realise that this is my opinion based on episodes one through fourteen.

FOR ANYONE WHO HAS NOT SEEN THE EPISODES POSTED BY BANJOGATE ON YOUTUBE AND YOU HAPPENS TO BE READING MY FANFICTION JUST BECAUSE IT IS ABOUT SEASON FOUR, I AM GOING TO SAY SOME VERY NASTY THINGS.

First of all, BLOOM LIED! (in my fic) And Andy ate it all up! (Well, Bloom _withheld_ information.) He seems likely to do that to me but he is after all, unaware of the entire situation.

Actually, I think that Andy capitalising on Bloom's family 'reunion' is something to note overall. This girl has gone through Shadowhaunt, Omega and Obsidian and back to find and reunite her family and friends and yet I feel that SHE IS A SPOILED UNGRATEFUL BITCH. She does not always realise the value of the things (or the show producers don't).

She went from being the adopted daughter of plain Earth parents through the entire magical universe to find out what had happened to her planet and parents and suddenly_ this_. I don't like the way she acts in season four. It's like Oritel and Miriam had never existed. The events of Obsidian never happened and Sky never proposed to her.

On the contrary, the producers could be doing this for the benefit of the 4kids dubbers who have not released the movie in North America. Therefore officially and technically, since the movie was never released here in N.A., Sky had never proposed to Bloom in the 4kids continuity.

HOWEVER, prior to the end of season three, during one of the girls pyjama parties, 4kids's Flora did foreshadow the fact that Bloom was going to say 'I do' to a certain somebody. Episode 17 of season three. Go to this video to see what I mean: www. youtube .com/watch?v=55bJYVBw56w&feature=related

Back to my rant, and then we have Andy come in and flirts with her still like nothing happened and she DOES NOTHING! Hello! At least say "Andy, stop. I'm engaged."

The scene I'm referring to is when Andy, Marc and Rio find the girls' loft and helps them to paint. (Episode 6 of season four) Accidentally, Andy gets paint on Bloom's cheek and he wipes it off of her with his hand saying "You'll have to take care of your clothes but I'll take care of your beautiful face." Anyone who has not seen the episode can tell that this is really wrong.

And then BAM—Sky and all the boys are standing at the _opened_ door! (Might I add, they looked really hot in this scene compared to the other scenes they've been animated in.) Judging from Sky's reaction, he saw everything.

Then Andy goes on completely unaware of everything; poor Andy! Of course, being a nice guy and all, he tries to make friends with them and invites them to help paint which Sky (and the gang) readily refuses and leaves.

Holy fuck, she didn't even try to resist his freaking advances and even STELLA of all people got the clue that maybe Andy was still in love with her. Fuck, does Bloom really want/love Sky? She's such a whore in season four.

There's my rant for this chapter and season four in general.

OH, OH! Season four picks up back tomorrow in Italy!!!

Back to the story, Timmy is moving full speed ahead with his relationship with Tecna and Asta and Helia discuss the plan. Buh-bye!

- Kiku


	25. Chapter 25 Capture in Follonica

**Verboten  
****Chapter 25**

Sunday, October 18, 2009

**Disclaimer: **I do not own the Winx Club.

**Fore Note:** I would be scared shitless if I were Andy right now. Everything bursting into flames, a psychotic fifteen year old killer, a drug lord for a fiancé, a geek sniper, new clothes from nowhere, a fairy ex-girlfriend, Bloom addicted to LSD… Read at your own discretion? No, it's not bad, just ironic the way Andy is thinking about things. He sees everything in a very slanted but very realistic view compared to ours because we know that magic is real in his universe.

* * *

**The next morning**

Andy awoke with a start as one would when considering the situation. He was immediately blinded by the bright yellow sunlight spilling into the room from the balcony door and he turned to his other side to face his back to it. Why was he so uncomfortable? Oh right, he had slept in jeans. Wait, why had he slept in jeans?

Shit, shit, shit, shit!

Andy cracked his eyes opened to look across at the empty expanse of bed right beside him. The navy blue bed sheets were wrinkled but no one was there. There were a couple of strands of red hair though.

The musician sat bolt straight and shot himself out of bed. "Bloom?!" he shouted with his heart going a million miles per second (and he didn't he even have coffee yet).

Andy whipped his head around searching evidence of anything. Had they taken her while he was asleep?

"Shit, what time is it?" Andy said to himself. His eyes widened in alarm at the big red 9:34 illuminated on the bedside table's digital clock. "Shit!" Andy circled the bed and knocked on the bathroom door. "Bloom?!" He put his ear to the door, intent on listening for water running.

Nothing.

Shit!

This time, Andy's cell phone which was sitting on the bedside table beside the digital clock vibrated and rang.

-

Sky awoke with a heavy heart. He knew why but it was still heavy. He never necessarily wanted to be king, even at such a young age. He was only twenty-one years old after all. He knew his duties and did them with as little question as possible except for the occasional "Is this right?" but he performed them to his fullest.

Sky knew from his clock that he was full morning and that the sun was out. Sky got out of bed, wary of the top bunk above his head, and set out of the barracks for the kitchen. The warehouse was a little desolate and a little depressing with most of its occupants out staking a spot on the outskirts of Punta Ala to capture Bloom and Andy. He hoped that no one got hurt.

Stepping out into the kitchen area, Sky took note of how many people were up about the warehouse. He could see about ten people around, all of them concentrated on the circular computer platform.

Some of them were buried deep in the circuitry under platform that you only saw their legs and the flickering occasional light. There was a set of stairs that went up onto the platform and he see some of the people concentrated typing away like mad inside the ring of computer panels. Above their head was hulking piece of metal that glowed various colours like a machine-like stalagmite from the ceiling. The mechanic stalagmite would be Earth's first and hopefully only (for the moment) intergalactic wave receiver—basically, a giant cell phone tower that could reach galaxies away. Nothing on Earth, as far as they knew, was capable of receiving and translating signals into legible messages from distant galaxies and Sky did not think that shopping around intergalactic receivers would quite fit his apparent Greek foreign exchange student alibi. (Earthlings did not even know what their own Milky Way Galaxy looked like, so he was doubtful they were capable of sending messages. Earthlings had their theories about what their galaxy looked like based on what other galaxies looked like but they were only theories. He was very doubtful that they were going to start intercepting phone calls from Magix because of him.) (1)

So, he imported one.

Grabbing a plate from the stack on the counter, Sky helped himself to the leftovers of the breakfast buffet and took a seat at a vacant table. He was in a dark mood. All sorts of stresses were being laid on his shoulder by the hour and he knew that today would only bring more worries.

Like what would he do when Andy and Bloom were brought in? He could not obviously just let Andy go because it was too late. The poor musician had no idea what he had just thrown himself into and there was no way Sky could just make up some type of cover story to explain everything away. No matter how much or how little Andy knew, he was irrevocably a part of Sky's mission to preserve Roxy's life now.

Sky dropped his fork and it clattered on his plate.

_Great, another life to worry about._

And what about Andy's parents? He would have to explain something to them too.

Sky brought a hand to his mouth and closed his eyes tightly as guilt wracked his heart with uncertainties. Not only did he have to worry about Roxy and her father who was still in the hospital but Andy and his family too. Then there were Bloom's adoptive parents to think about too. He did not think that Black Circle knew about Mike and Vanessa or Andy's parents' existence or that it mattered to them at all but the sole fact that they could be used as leverage of any kind on him or Bloom was terrifying.

Shit.

What was he going to do?

They needed to get rid of the Black Circle as fast as possible.

Sky never counted on there ever being an 'ex-boyfriend' at all and all he wanted to do was yell his frustrations out or kick something now that he had found out. Maybe beat the hell out of the musician for simply existing. Why the hell did she not tell him about Andy in the last four years? Was it such a difficult subject to talk about? He had openly shared his information on his relationship with Diaspro so why did she not do the same? He just thought he had been the only one in Bloom's life. Bloom's Earth life seemed millions of lightyears from her life with him. It just seemed like such a different life, as if it had never existed. It made wonder how did she truly feel about this big change? What did coming back to Earth make her feel?

"Sky, are you sick?"

Sky opened his eyes to see dark-haired tanned woman giving him a peculiar stare.

"A headache, Chandra," he answered.

"I'll give you ibuprofen later, Sky. Eat up, I want to talk to you for a bit about a serious matter."

Shit, that only meant something was very wrong if the very capable Chandra was not capable of making a decision without his input.

-

"Mom, I can't tell you what is going on! No, I'm telling you where I am. I just know something bad is going to happen and Bloom had to leave fast. Mom, I don't know about school! Yes, I know! I want to finish school, Mom! Goddamnit, I'll be home when I get home," Andy yelled into his phone frustrated. Why couldn't his mother understand the severity of the situation?!

His mother was about to retort when Andy pressed the end button and flipped his phone close.

Goddamnit, goddamnit, goddamnit, goddamnit!

Now, Bloom. Where was Bloom? Think positive. Considering the time, she might have gone out to get some food or something.

Heading for the door with his hand on the knob, he felt the knob turn without his help and his heart sped. Andy backed away and the door open to let in Bloom standing in completely different clothes than what she had been wearing last night.

"Where the hell were you?" Andy yelled. "And where the hell did you get the clothes?!"

He sure as hell did not bring any clothes with him just before running from Gardenia. He took in the fact that she was wearing a faded denim skirt with a striped top decorated with pink hearts. In one arm was the pink polka dot shirt and poufy skirt she had been wearing and in the other arm was presumably more clothes—male clothes.

Bloom stared at the clothes in on her and in arms as if it were the first time she had noticed them and her mouth made an O in awe.

"Um, I…" she tried to futilely explain. "I didn't steal them, Andy, I swear!" She gave him a heartbreaking face.

"Where did you get them then?" he asked harshly.

"I…I can't tell you…" she said in a small voice.

Andy made a nonplussed face. Coming to an awkward standstill, Bloom handed him the clothes and he changed in the bathroom with some doubts. The clothes fitted him perfectly and that terrified him. How did Bloom know his sizes? Andy stared at himself in the mirror, now wearing a faded pair of jeans and Pink Floyd t-shirt and made sure that he had everything. His cell phone, his ids, his passport and whatnot.

In the mirror, the Andy saw an unsure man. A man who had no idea where he was going in life. Just one adventure after another hoping for the best. What was he doing here in hotel in another town with his ex-girlfriend no less? Who was this ex-girlfriend of his? This ex-girlfriend of his was completely different from the one he had had four years ago.

The musician splashed water in his face and stepped back into the main room where Bloom had apparently plucked a bag from nowhere and was stuffing it with her dirty clothes. She made a grab for Andy's as well but gave him a scared face at his expression of confusion at the appearance of a bag. Where was she getting all of this stuff? Did she secretly have a credit card stashed about her person?

Andy shook his head. Having the bag would make things easier and make their appearance a little more normal in the lobby as well as any tolls they crossed. After paying for the room, Andy passed by the hotel restaurant and took breakfast to go.

-

On the road again, they had not talked for at least a good twenty minutes. They briefly drove beside the ocean until they came to plain never-ending stretches of road with forests on his left and pastureland to his right. Cows and horses dotted the scenery to break the monotony.

"Bloom," he started. "I know you didn't tell me the truth last night."

"I know."

"I think I deserve to know the truth, or a little more of it," he said as he drove.

She was silent for a moment, only staring out the window as if she did not hear him.

"At least tell me why Asta called you 'princess.'" Andy vaguely remembered Bloom's impression of the little 'witch.' She had screamed and cried her frustrations about the bitch woman who apparently only made her relationship with Sky worst. Andy did not know how but he trusted Bloom's judgement on it. She had figured out for him who the strange woman on the phone was and Andy had a renewed respect for the beautiful woman as well as a founded deep-seated hate from the fact that she had suggested to kill his ex-girlfriend, or just wanted to kill anyone in general.

"Do you believe in magic, Andy?"

Andy turned his eyes to her for a moment before returning them to the road. She did not look like she was up to something but who knew what she had learned at Alfea? He would play with her for a bit to see where the conversation would go.

"What—like Harry Potter?"

Bloom gave him an incredulous stare, almost offended and shook her head. "Haven't you ever hoped that dragons and witches were real? Or that mermaids and mythical creatures were once living things on Earth?"

"Like in Harry Potter, right?" he asked confused. Was a Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback supposed to suddenly come out of the sky belching fire at him while looking for dinner with a brigade of witches on broomsticks flying after him?

"No, I mean _for real_, Andy!" Bloom turned in her seat with one hand on the dashboard and other on her arm rest and she looked at him, her face fraught.

Andy was silent. What she trying to say?

Wait, what could have possibly made her say this at all? Where the hell did the magic from?

Was she on drugs or something…?

The musician's eyes widened in deep thought as he reflected on the last several weeks revolving around the bar. Something in him clicked. Catatonic-like state of mind; suffering emotional trauma almost; eternally tearing eyes; rubbing her hands or wrist; the unwillingness to do anything; strange eating habits…

Andy drove to the side of the road near a hilly field scattered with rock rubble from the roads that had been carved out straight through hills. He stopped the car immediately, making Bloom brace herself in her seat as they stopped.

"Andy—?"

"Get out," he said harshly, pulling the key out of the ignition.

"But why?"

"I said '_get out!_'" he almost yelled while stepping out of the car.

-

Andy had it all figured out now. The first night she had come to his house, she seemed to obviously have been suffering from shock, maybe even drug withdrawal depending on the time. Her eyes still had a sunken quality to them and the way she moved and talked just screamed the fact that drugs were involved. How had he not seen this before?! All sorts of facts came colliding into his mind, all ending with Sky.

"Andy, what's going on?" Bloom stared back at the car and then to Andy who was walking away from it and into the forest-bordered grassland.

Andy roared out a scream of frustration to the Sky. Andy turned suddenly and faced Bloom and she flinched as if she was going to be hit.

"You're addicted to drugs, aren't you?! Sky's your supplier, isn't he?!"

Sky was an extraordinarily young drug lord and Bloom was one of his devoted customers and now, unfortunately, his future wife. A very vulnerable and easily controlled wife if he kept her high enough. Now, his future wife had gone and done something stupid and he seriously did not like what had happened. Ergo, he wanted her dead.

-

Screw the fairies freaks on TV, or the way the microphone had flown out of his hand into Stella's at the bar. This was way more important. Bloom stared at Andy with wide eyes and surprise written all over her face. "What are you talking about?" she said in a small soft and scared voice like a child. "Andy, I'm not on drugs."

"Don't you dare start lying to me, Bloom! I'm not stupid!" Andy pointed a finger at her. "I know when something is wrong and what I'm seeing is that you're addicted to something. I don't know what but it's pretty bad! Tell me the truth Bloom or else I'll hand you over to Sky instead!" No, he wouldn't really do that but he had to get her to talk before they went any further on this crazy journey.

"What?!" she said distraught and totally surprised. "No, you wouldn't!"

"What's stopping me? Give me the truth and skip the magic shit. I'm not here to waste time."

"But Andy, I was telling the truth! Magic is real!" she waved her arms around her for emphasis but he was not buying it.

"EXCUSE ME?! What the fuck are you on, Bloom? LSD?! Ecstasy?! God, will you listen to yourself?"

"Andy, magic is real! I swear it! Just listen to me. You know that it's real! Look at the fairies on TV—the good that they're doing for Gardenia!"

"Yeah, and look at what happened when the robbers tried to rob the bar! How are you going to explain that? Half of those people winded up in the hospital because of your _fiancé_ and his friends."

"You saw those fairies for yourself the first time I came to the bar, Andy! You saw them fighting in the parking lot with a bunch of wizards. They threw cars, for God's sake!"

"I was inside the bar, Bloom. I didn't see anything. And how did you know that those freaks were wizards?! Where is all this shit coming from?"

"ANDY, JUST LET EXPLAIN!" Bloom screamed at the top of her lungs. He felt an unnaturally strong wind push him to the ground and suddenly the grass at her feet burst into flames.

-

Bloom felt down to her knees and lowered her head and began to cry. Why was it so fucking hard to explain the truth? It was not hard. Magic is real. What was so hard about that? Poisoning the last fairy of Earth with a seemingly innocent object, getting verbally lashed out by both her fiancé and his father, threatened to be killed by said father, seeking refuge at her ex-boyfriend's, reduced to running away from her hometown because her fiancé wanted her dead, a psychopathic witch who was after them and now, accused of being addicted to drugs when her ex was being difficult and unbelieving. What was so hard to believe in magic?

She knew she was clean. She had never taken anything outside of prescribed drugs in her life and now, her ex was accusing her of being addicted. She had thought that she had knew him better than that, that maybe he still had faith in her character but apparently, she was wrong. He had repeatedly asked where the Bloom from before was. She just could not understand. How could she had changed so much that even he could not recognise her as the same person from years ago? She had not changed much, had she?

Had she?

No, she hadn't, she thought to herself. It was Sky who was changing! she screamed in her mind behind the darkness of her eyelids. She was only along for the sick twisted ride. What the hell had happened to him?

"B-bloom?!" Andy's distant voice broke her thoughts.

Bloom opened her eyes, hiccupping and tearing. She wiped her eyes against her arm and was met with the sight of Andy on the ground flushed against a stone through the flickering wall of fire before.

The fire was spreading, eating everything.

Andy backed until his back met a jagged stone and he stared with wide eyes at the fire engulfing Bloom. Frozen with fear, unwilling to do anything, Andy sat there staring. Where had the fire come?

Suddenly conscious of her surroundings, Bloom got up and stared dumbfounded at the fire around her and then at her hands as if she had caused them. There was no way that the fire had come from her, Andy thought.

She said something indecipherable, held her hands out before and suddenly, the fire was being absorbed into her hands like it was natural for her. The intensity of the heat receded and finally, the fire was gone as if it had never been there save for the charred ground surrounding her. The piece of grass she was standing was still green and undamaged.

Bloom took unsure steps to Andy trying to say something. "Andy, just let me explain—"

"Stay away from me!" he screamed automatically. Something more than unnatural was at work and he wanted none of it.

Bloom stopped a few meters away from him. "Please, let me try to explain. I promise to tell you everything but you have to give me a chance, Andy."

"You lied straight to my face last night! You haven't told me anything resembling logic since we left Gardenia."

"Please, just let me explain, Andy!"

"Just get the fuck away from me!"

"No—Andy, please!"

"Just get away from me! I don't know who the fuck you are but get the hell away from me!"

Bloom's heart jumped into her throat and she looked down at her hands, crying. "Andy, I didn't mean for this to happen. The fire—I didn't want to hurt you, I didn't mean it. I didn't want you to get involved but I didn't know who to go to. I mean, my parents, they can't do anything. They wouldn't know what to do! I-I—Andy, I don't want to die, okay?!"

She looked to Andy for a response, but he kept silent.

"I…please, just listen to me, okay?" Bloom looked around her at the rubble scattered about her, at the flowers, the grass, the weeds, the rocks. Where did she start? "Magic is real, Andy. I swear it. Earth use to have magic, _I_ have magic. I mean, that's how I found my parents and all… When I found Stella, she was in a fight with a troll who was trying to steal the Ring of Solaria, a very powerful object that could destroy the fabric of space and time and then she found out that I had magic and-and…I left for Alfea. I mean, _I'm_ a fairy—Stella, Flora, Musa, Tecna and Layla are fairies, Andy. (2)"

Andy stared at her steadily, betraying very little emotion.

"Andy, we're those fairies from TV, or the ones fighting outside the bar, flying through the city, trying to stop the thieves, I mean…" Bloom looked around her helplessly for something or someone to back her up.

"Right…" Andy said with heavy disbelief. "Where is this proof that what you're saying is real then?"

"Andy, it's on TV. _I'm_ on TV. What else do you want me to say?!" Bloom said in a hoarse voice.

"As much as I want to believe you, there is no way in hell that you are those 'fairies' from the news. It's impossible."

"But I am!" Why was he being so difficult? What was so hard to understand? Why could Andy not be a little more open in his views? Why were humans so difficult in general? Bloom raised a trembling hand and considered using magic to open his mind.

NO! She would not do that him! Least of all, him! Andy could believe without the aide of magic if only he opened a little. She had to believe that forcing people to believe did not mean tampering with their minds.

Andy stared at her raised hand levelly. "Then where are those _wings_ of yours then?" he said acidly.

Bloom cringed and froze again. Was it really that simple?

-

Bloom straightened and Andy followed her movements, he himself standing up afraid that Bloom was about to leave. She turned around and went several meters away from him before turning again.

"I promise you, Andy, that magic is real." Bloom closed her eyes tightly and quietly said to herself, "Transform."

Andy was blinded with white light as Bloom's body impossibly floated up into the air and was encased in a ball of blue, white, yellow, orange and pink flames. A red and orange Chinese dragon flew out of the ball into the sky performing a breathtaking aerial acrobat arcing up and down. It roared, the sound reverberating through Andy's bones. It dove back down onto the ball and circled it several times, each time getting closer and coiling itself tightly against the sphere.

And then the sphere exploded into a deluge of lights. Heat rushed up Andy's face as he closed his eyes before being blinded again. When the heat receded, Andy opened his eyes and saw the customary white lights that one got after taking a photo with flash. Blinking several times, Andy saw Bloom again, this time completely changed and all he could do was stare.

She was a fairy but she sure as hell as was not redhead fairy from TV.

Bloom stood wearing a pale blue miniskirt with a slit up one side and a matching top that was skin-tight and looked like a bikini top with a collar and yellow brooch on her chest. She wore simple blue heels and white-blue arm warmers. On her head was a golden tiara that caught the sunlight. Her most interesting feature were her shimmering pale blue wings with dark blue tips. They almost seemed like adolescent wings compared to the fairies on TV.

Bloom stood looking at her form, confused and not quite sure. She had a panicked look on her and she stared at Andy helplessly.

"Something's wrong," she said deeply and started to hyperventilate. "No, something's wrong! Andy, do you believe now? Do you believe that I'm a fairy?! Oh God, oh God, no, something is wrong! This isn't my believix!"

Andy suddenly found his arms full with Bloom shaking him by his shirt. He was unsure of what to say as she yelled at him.

"Oh God, something is wrong!" Bloom fell to her knees.

-

Andy kneeled down to her level, unsure of what to do now that he had been proved that fairies were real, or at least that his ex was a fairy.

"Um…" Andy swallowed hard, "It's okay, Bloom…" The musician wove his arms around, being carefully of the paper thin wings that had suddenly seemed to have appeared on her back. "So, um, you proved that magic was real…I guess…" Whatever had happened, he definitely believed that something was at work.

"Oh God, that's true!" Bloom looked up to him and smiled. "You would have to believe now!"

"I still have no idea what is going on but…"

"Roxy's the last fairy of Earth and she's being hunted down by these dark wizards. Me and my friends are fairies and our boyfriends are specialists and we all trained at this magical city on another world. We were sent to Earth to protect her and-and…" Bloom's words were almost incomprehensible as it was all jumbled into one long never-ending sentence.

"Okay, I have no idea what you just said or what is going on…"

Bloom looked up to Andy. "It means that I don't hide it from you anymore." Yes, she definitely felt as if a great weight had been lifted off of her.

-

Timmy shouldered his rifle case up the rocky hillside, carefully checking his footing for loose stones. His goggles fed him information about the terrain. He followed the map carefully, taking note everybody's location in comparison to his. His jumpsuit imitated the colour of his surroundings with a green and grey camouflage scheme. The birds were nowhere to be found but he could hear their songs.

They had a plan, a hastily made one but a very simple and effective one. Making his way through trees he kept his eye on couple in the middle of the clearing below. He walked near the treeline that bordered the sheer face of one hill but kept to the shadows. It was not as if Bloom or Andy was going to spot him that distance by it never hurt to keep in practise and take precautions.

He came to spot on the hill that appealed to his sense of practicality. The floor was a little rough but flat and workable. He lowered his case to the ground carefully and entered the password to unlock it. Inside was his disassembled rifle. He looked back to Bloom and Andy in their clearing. They were smaller than his thumbnail to him from his vantage point.

Pulling out his rifle and a barrel, he attached them and undid the tripod legs. He got down and laid on the ground, testing his scope. Finally, he reached into the case again and carefully pulled out a small bullet-like needle; a yellow rubber-like ballistic syringe about three inches long. He loaded it and took aim with a heavy heart. He hoped that his measurements were correct and he would no overdose her.

-

Andy stood awkwardly in the middle of the field. She had just explained to him that fairies had different forms or transformations, something out of Sailor Moon. "So…can you actually fly?" he asked awkwardly.

Bloom gave him a surprised face and she nodded, flying into the air. Only after gaining a few feet, Bloom lost her balance and awkwardly landed on one leg as she looked at the back of her other one. She fell onto her side. Andy came running to her as she fell and tried to catch her. On her leg was a yellow tube of sorts sticking out limply from under the helm of her skirt.

"What the hell? Are you hurt, Bloom?"

She shook her head and slowly pulled out the needle.

A dart?

Andy's eyes fell on Bloom and she screamed. "Poison?! No, this can't be true!"

Andy looked around at the surrounding hills and saw nothing.

Shit, shit, shit, shit!

Not wanting to waste time, Andy made a move to carry her bridal style when she flew back into air apparently trying to look for the shooter. All he could do was stare around. What was he supposed to do?

Then there was a sudden noise that made him jump and nets flew across the field from all directions at Bloom with enough force to send her crashing to the ground.

"Bloom!" Andy ran to her body but then motorcyclists from off the road and blocked his way. More motorcyclists, several trucks and a fancy race car drove off the road and surrounded him, making screeching sounds.

How deep was Sky's anger?!

Andy found a dozen handguns pointed at him as people stepped off the trucks. They all wore helmets or dark sunglasses as they preceded but apparently Bloom would have none of that.

"_Supernova!_" he heard Bloom scream and there was a burst of white fire that pushed everyone including Andy with a tremendous force that the earth shook. The musician smelled that something was burning and his body was suffering from overheat. He was sweating profusely and seeing double.

From what he could see, some people had erected translucent, dare he say magical, barriers and were unharmed.

"Get her!" a female voiced screamed. He looked at a woman step out from the race car wearing a skin-tight suit like everyone else, hers being black as midnight and screamed orders.

Bloom was in the air again trying to fly away futilely but she was heavily weighted down by yellow ropes thin as spider silk. A man with long hair in a ponytail was pulling her down, the ropes coming from his hands it seemed, and another weighted net was shot at her to bring her down.

She screamed at the top of her longs. Her arms were bunched to her sides and she was rapidly loosing height as her wings were trapped by the net.

"_Dragon fire burst!_" There was another wave of red hot energy that emanated from her but not as strong as the first one.

Andy covered his face to protect himself from the heat. Opening his eyes, he saw Asta come running at him with killer intent. She threw a hard punch and barely caught her by running under her raised arm, catching it and sending her flying over his shoulders. He still remembered some aikido techniques and he was grateful.

Unfortunately, Asta caught herself and landed. She found herself with her right arm twisted under Andy's grip and was back to back with him. As soon as he let go, she turned herself around him and sent a punch straight to his stomach. She then knocked out his legs and he fell to the ground face first.

Trying to get out of the way, Andy rolled but only found himself in a bad position as the air was knocked out of him when he felt full weight of Asta on him. She was sitting on him.

Andy tried to weakly throw some punches at her but they never found their mark as she grabbed one wrist and unsheathed a handgun from her thigh, pointing it at him. He froze immediately despite having one free hand. "Shit, why the fuck are you doing this?!"

Upon closer inspection of this 'Asta' girl that got Bloom so riled up, Andy's heart jumped into his throat as tried to understand what he was seeing. He saw a very beautiful girl, probably not a day older than sixteen even. If it had not been for the situation and circumstances, he might have even said that he was in love. She was hunched over him and her long brownish black hair was tied in a ponytail spilling over her shoulders and unto him, obscuring his view. Her eyes were big, soft and round but the way she held her mouth and eyebrows spoke of something that was hardened, much older and much wiser. Something he only saw in kids who had to grow up too fast.

What had that evil blond bastard subjected this teenager to?

This was not what he had expected at all. She did not look ready to kill him with the gun but rather used it as leverage to keep control of the positions. Then he was extremely aware of what she was wearing. Aside from the very interesting skin-tight armoured bodysuit, there was a sort of black metal gauntlet on her gun hand with a sort of canon or scope on it.

"You wouldn't kill me, would you?" he asked all of a sudden.

"I could shoot you but only as long as it did not kill you," Asta said in an efficient tone.

"But why? Why do you do this?"

"Andy, don't ask questions," she reprimanded. "I'm going to get off of you. You have two choices, either I shoot you in the legs as you run or try to resist me again or I handcuff you and put you in the back of a truck. You saw what happened to Klaus? I'll make that seem like a day in the spa."

-

On the other side of the other side of the field, Helia was tempted to use the taser function on his gloves on Bloom but thought better as she had presumably taken a sedative from Timmy's tranquilizer. The fire fairy began to slowly descend and then freefall from the sky asleep. Several people caught her from below.

Helia stepped up the bunch as others uncovered her from the net. He cut the threads from his gloves and knotted them around her. Her Winx form shimmered out of existence and they put her on a gurney which they loaded into one of the armoured trucks. He saw Andy go into the other, prodded by Asta's gun. Helia stepped into that one.

"Give me your car keys, Andy," Asta demanded.

He did not respond in defiance.

"Fine, we can leave your car here for the authorities to pick up then."

He grudgingly told her to fish in his back pocket. Asta did so and handed the keys to someone else.

Everyone picked up their things, trying to destroy evidence of a battle. Someone was busy encouraging plants to grow in all the ash white burnt turfs of grass and another was checking the surrounding forest for any wildfires. That was the cleanup crew's job. Closing the doors to back of the truck, he locked it and made a motion for the driver to get moving.

The inside of the car was basically two benches and crowded with all sorts of compartments. Helia pulled open a small black door that revealed a small fridge and handed water bottles to Asta, who was grateful, and Andy, who gave him a stare of disdain.

Helia shrugged it off and took a seat.

It was going to be a long ride back.

* * *

**Latter Note:** FINALLY! I got this over with! I've wanted to get to the captured scene for so many days now.

1) This is true. We Earthlings have no actual idea of what the Milk Way looks like because we have not been able to send a satellite far enough from the Earth to take a picture of the whole galaxy—plus, it would take hundreds of years to send something that far. The only reason why we assume that the galaxy is a white swirl of sorts is based on speculation from the pictures taken of other galaxies.

2) I really have no idea what the Ring of Solaria is really for since it went into that great big black hole of use-one-time plot devices with the charmix, the Codex and realm of Realix. I took some creative liberties. What was the sceptre actually capable of aside from a couple power magic boosts and making portals, I have no idea. Taking from the portal ability, I made it have the power to break the fabric of space and time since I consider portals to be breaks or short cuts through reality or the first three dimensions.

3) I know that I never made a real note for this but I felt like I should talk about it. "Shit, that only meant something was very wrong if the very capable Chandra was not capable of making a decision without his input." In real life, this kind of situation would usually be cause for alarm depending on what is involve. Since Chandra is involved with Roxy's recovery, presumably, it must mean that something is up.

4) I also never wrote a note for this either but I want to note that girls' magic can be affected by their emotional state, as seen in the Winx Club comics. It was called 'Magic Tournament.' In this comic, there is magical tournament held by the council of Magix for some reason or another (political corruption, believe it or not) and it was the Trix (with semi-reformed minds) against the Winx Club. Point is: all the girls had an earlier spat with their boys because of school stress. Once the girls plus Trix are inside the arena, they are faced challenges that appear as objects, people or concepts. The witches are drowned by plants—bye-bye! The girls get to the root of the plant and find out why it's acting the way it is. One of the roots is impeded by an enormous boulder where there is clean water. One root is drinking from dirty water. The girls decide to move the boulder with magic but Stella says that her magic is not working well because she is stressed about the fight she had with Brandon. All the girls are the same. Voila, the boys sneak into the arena through an emergency exit, they apologize, the boys leave and the girls can perform magic. They win the challenge. Since Bloom thinks that Sky wants her dead, her magic is working only half as well for her since she transformed into her season one winx mode, and not believix. I kinda of miss that form.

On another note, I just rewatched episode four of Banjogate's dub and I have to say that I am totally pissed at Bloom's reaction towards Sky and the guys after the fight with the Black Circle. Sky comes to your aide when you really need it because your magic does nothing against the Black Circle. Sky comes in defending you (he threw smoke bombs, which is something you expect Riven to do) and the least you could say is thank you! But no! After hugging him, you realise that your own fiancé intervened in your own mission and reprimand him like he's the child. Here's the conversation:

Bloom: Stop! I get it! Now I understand…  
Sky: Okay, Bloom, listen. I know you are not happy with this but it's time to forget about pride. (WOOT! GO SKY GO!) To beat the wizards, you need all the help that you can get.  
Bloom: No, you listen to me! Who told you that we need your help? We were winning! (Really, that is debatable.)  
Riven: Yeah, right. *points to destroyed packing lot as if a hurricane went through it* (Of course, our favourite maverick has to add his two cents!)  
Bloom: Sky, we appreciate your help, but if you don't trust us, now is the time to say it. (I changed this line a little to make it make sense)  
Riven: This is too much. Who were those guys in the bar? *refers to Andy and his crew*  
Musa: Riven! (Oh, buck up! You're the one who had to go and show off your guitar skills to Andy and crew on stage.)  
Bloom: What is he talking about?  
Sky: You can't deny that you were very close with that guy, Andy. (I feel really sorry for Sky here. I mean, what does he know about Bloom's past life? Next to nothing and I'm sort of on his side here.)  
Bloom: You! You were spying on us? (Gee, really?)  
Sky: Yes, Bloom.  
Bloom: I'm disappointed, Sky, very disappointed. I thought that you knew me, but, what's worst, I was convinced that I know you! (Which just shows us how two-dimensional their relationship is.)  
*everyone walks away*

Now, Bloom's last words could be interpreted as anything. At first, I thought that this meant when Sky intervened but after a while of reflection, it could also mean Andy. The boys were sent to Earth by Faragonda, so they were doing their job. However, letting Andy get friendly with you to the point where he flirts with you in later episodes crosses the line.

I also think that this scene where Helia really shined in my eyes because Duman threatened to rip Flora's wings to shreds with his claw-like hands and Helia comes in, in civvies, and uses his laserstring gloves to capture Duman's hand and pulls him to the ground to engage in hand-to-hand combat.


	26. Chapter 26

**Verboten  
****Chapter 26**

Monday, October 19, 2009

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Winx Club.

* * *

The ride back was god awfully long and it had only been probably half an hour. Andy tried not to stare at Asta, who was distractingly brushing her hair with a comb and had propped her legs on the adjacent bench near the driver, or Helia who was 'apparently' sleeping in his seat near the back. Andy occasionally caught Helia staring back and then closing his eyes dozing. Asta half-hummed a tune from time to time. Andy himself was handcuffed with his hands resting on his knees.

"Okay, I can't stand this silence, anymore. Someone has to talk or something." Helia was awake again and alert this time.

Andy inwardly agreed.

"Did we bring anything to eat?" Asta said, dropping her brush. "I'm absolutely famished and the food on this planet is disgusting. Or at least, this place called McDonald's is."

Andy was jarred by the sudden way Asta begun to act. For once, she acted like her age: fifteen years old with a sort of childish hyperactiveness.

"There's probably ration packs somewhere, if you're _that_ hungry. Try that one." Helia pointed to a compartment beside Asta where she pulled out a small rectangular box unto her lap.

"Yes! Pass me a water bottle!" Asta ripped open the top of the box where inside was a plastic tray divided into compartments. She ripped off the plastic seal from that too. Inside were all sorts of chunks of unidentifiable foods drowned in powder. Grabbing a bottle from Helia, she poured the water into the tray and used a fork to mix it.

"You're going to eat all of that cold?"

"Shut up. You saw nothing," she threatened with her fork and ate gluttonously.

Helia stuck his tongue out. "And you, did you eat?" the artist asked Andy.

"I'm…fine," Andy said awkwardly from being included into their conversation.

"So, what did Bloom tell you?"

The musician's face drew a blank. What was he supposed to tell him?

"Okay, maybe not…"

"What happened to Bloom?"

Helia was pensive. "I might as well tell you. We shot a sedative into her while was not looking, a tranq if you will, and then we made out move and captured her—and you. She's in the other truck, sleeping hopefully."

"So…she's a fairy, Bloom that is?" Andy tested.

The musician was met with a sheer wall that was Helia's response. "I'm not allowed to tell you that."

"You're not going to tell me anything, are you?" How classic. It was in movies, it was books. Tell them anything you can and they will give nothing in response. Helia and Asta gave very little answers pertaining to magic and Andy gave up.

-

Sky walked into Chandra's makeshift office and closed the door. The tanned, short-haired woman was already sitting and Sky grabbed a swivel chair, bracing himself for the worst. Sky was so tense, almost to point that he would be sick. Something told him that this would be no ordinary discussion judging from the way his stomach was ready to heave its contents.

"Sky, I know you are stressed about everything. I know what you are stressed about. I'm going to make suggestions. Just listen to me, okay?" the woman cooed gently. "I've told you this since the day I met you that I'm a psychologist, not a psychiatrist." Of course, she was giving him her special speech to help calm him. It was not calming at all.

"First, Roxy. I know it's been years since something like this has come up and I don't mean to bring up any bad memories, okay?" Chandra swallowed hard. "Do you remember when Diaspro was kidnapped and as soon as she had been retrieved, you were not allowed to see her for six months?"

Sky nodded unsure. Those months had not been necessarily terrible for him but there was a sort of an uncomfortable loneliness. He did not really want to remember it. He had been only eight himself and had known very little of the real world.

"Do you remember what I said when I finally told you what had happened to her during those months?"

Of course he did. How could he not? It had been years later after the incident, about when he was fourteen and learning about the unnatural workings of magic and its repercussions. What they had done to Diaspro was terrible. Sick. Even disgusting. Against the very laws of nature. Something to not be tampered with. Death would have been better for the princess than the treatment she had been subjected to. Sky was hunched over with a hand to his mouth, almost wanting to wretch.

They had tampered with her mind; rewrote her personality; destroyed her character until there was nothing that was truly Diaspro. A completely different Diaspro.

What did that mean for Roxy?

"Diaspro's mind was in a very fragile and susceptible state," she continued. "She had been exposed to materialistic greed and that could have been very dangerous for the princess in the years to come, Sky. You know what she's capable of. Gold from iron, emeralds from rubies. We did those things to emphasis the point that money was not very important in the world so that she would not realise what potential she would have had. I know that she grew a little vain later on but…"

Sky motioned for her to stop talking. The king found himself grasping for breathe.

"Just tell me what this has to do with Roxy, Chandra."

Slightly relieved, Chandra continued. "Roxy might have to go under the same process if we ever see her mind open up. She's been exposed to thoughts and ideas that are not her own and she might not wake up as her own person from this. We need to keep Roxy the same person, before and after. I know that this is not the most delightful subject to talk about but I have no choice to give you the responsibility of Roxy's personal health. I can't be both the doctor and the guardian in this."

No, no, no, no! What was Chandra thinking?!

"But what about Klaus?!" Sky said immediately.

No, no, no, no! Roxy was not going to be another Diaspro. Roxy was stronger than that, older, wiser. She had to be!

Chandra straightened, as if expecting this. "He cannot make informed decisions about his daughter's health at this stage, injured or not. Physical damage is one thing but mental and magical damage, especially for a man who grew without magic, is a completely different thing. You know that, Sky. You will know what to do."

"How can I possibly do that while running this mission?"

Chandra was also expecting this question. "Relegate your tasks, Sky. Quit your job at the bar. Give Asta the task of running around with the specialists and the Winx for every fire. Make Brandon give you reports. You have more important things to take care of."

Sky nodded. He could not argue at all.

"Which brings me to my second concern: your interest in this mission. Your fiancé. I know you are sending them home as soon as possible but you will most undoubtedly become uncontrollable if I left you two in the same room for a minute. Now that Andy is involved, there is no doubt in my mind. This is no reflection upon your relationship but I want you to postpone your relationship with her. Give your rings back to each other."

Sky's heart was racing and breathing was becoming difficult. "You want me to break up with Bloom?!"

"Exactly."

"But that's not fair!"

"And a king whose mind is so caught up on his fiancée's past life and troubles that he cannot see the entire picture is no good to me, Sky."

"But I'm not like that—!"

"This is not negotiable. I've said what I've needed to for now. Get out of my office and reflect on it for a bit. Come back to me when you've calm down. Take a walk, get drunk, beat yourself in the reality chamber or go to sleep but get out."

Speechless, enraged, confused, Sky was all of them. Who the hell was this woman to tell him how to run his personal life? Who the hell was she to suggest to him these things?

More shocked than angered, Sky numbly got up and left.

-

**That afternoon**

Andy had been deposited into a sort of cell upon arriving. He did not catch a glimpse of the outside so he had no idea where he was but he had to admit the furnishings were a lot better than he imagined. After a long hallway, they had brought him to a door that would lead to his room. It was a small square room with a metal bunk bed, a table, some chairs, a small shelf and an equally small bathroom with a shower. The walls were a sort of yellow that he did not care for very much though. Not what he had expected at all.

This was pretty generous of them, actually.

The door was obviously locked, though.

Andy got to know the room was intimately after a couple of minutes and decided to go to sleep.

-

There was a knock at the door that woke up Andy from his dreaming. At first, he had wondered where was he until he remembered what had happened that same morning. It came to him as a brilliant flash of half sensible memories that made absolutely no sense.

Right, his ex-girlfriend, who was engaged to this definitely not remotely Greek possibly drug dealer bastard blond, was a fairy. A headache started to attack him at the idea.

"Andy, are you in there?"

The musician did respond, being half-asleep.

"I have dinner," the voice tempted. "Can I come in?"

Andy sat up in his bed, almost hitting his head on the bottom of the bunk above him. "Sure…"

The door knob spun and the door swung open to let in a familiar dark-haired fifteen years old, wearing short shorts, sneakers and plain shirt, carrying a heavy-looking tray laden with pots. Andy stood up to help, unsure of how to act. Asta slammed the door shut with her bum and scurried to the table dropping the tray with a small thump.

"That was so heavy! What are they trying to feed you?!" she said in a whiney voice, almost insinuating that he was fat.

"Um…thanks…"

"Your welcome." Asta then began opening various pots that let out steam and set up a table for two.

"Wait, you're eating with me?"

"No, I'm only here to offset the colour of the wall. Of course I'm eating with you!"

Andy took a moment to register the thought. "Why?"

"So that you don't die of boredom, dufus."

In the pots were all sorts of foods: stews, rice, pasta, unidentifiable meats…a purple-red soup with carrots…all of which smelled absolutely appetizing.

Andy's stomach rumbled. Asta turned a head to him, quirking an eyebrow. "Eat. Take as much as you want."

-

The musician and the witch ate in awkward silence. Their forks scraped their plates and it grated on Andy's nerves.

"So…um, you're Asta."

Asta paused with a fork in her mouth. "And you're Andy."

"You're the girl from the bar. You were always reading or drinking tea."

"Mm-hm," she agreed.

"Or talking to Sky…"

"Yes," she said curtly.

Andy's shoulders dropped at the lack of detailed responses. "Can you tell me anything at all?"

Asta put down her fork and put her chin on her hands and looked at him with her greyish eyes that seemed to swirl unnaturally behind her pupil.

"So tell me, what's Pink Floyd," she said smiling at his shirt. Pink Floyd was written over his breast with the cover art for _The Dark Side of the Moon_: a beam of light hitting a triangular prism and forming a rainbow of lights at the other side.

"How do you—?" Andy looked at his chest, briefly remembering the scene in the hotel when Bloom handed them to him. "It's a rock band from the sixties."

"Really, are they popular?"

A muscle in Andy's jaw jumped. This teen had to be kidding. How does she not know about Pink Floyd? Sure, they probably predated both him and her combined but how could she never have heard of them? "Haven't you ever heard of them?"

"No, never. This is the first time I ever heard of them. Are they girls? They sound like it."

Andy's jaw dropped. Now, she definitely had to be living under a rock.

"I don't live under a rock, Andy." Asta began picking at her food. At his opened mouth, she said, "Close your mouth. I don't want to see what you ate."

Andy closed it immediately, slightly embarrassed.

"So Bloom gave you that shirt, huh?" she continued.

"Um, yeah."

"Because you only left with the clothes on your back, right?"

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry for the scare then. I did not mean to terrify you so badly. The phone call, I mean. By the way, I broke into your house and looked around. I left everything as it was though."

Andy did not know how to respond to that. He tried to form words but failed. Instead, he tried to focus on what he knew about this…teenager.

She had been the one to suggest killing Bloom. No, he would not bring that up. Considering this girl's age, what did she know about what was right and what was wrong? She looked barely out of high school. She also had the killer instinct judging by the way his body felt a little sore after that punch to his stomach. Andy looked up to stare at the girl's intensely interesting grey eyes.

"You have very unique eyes." No wait—that was not what he wanted to say!

"Thank you I know that you did not intend to say that but thanks anyways. Your eyes are really nice against your dark hair. They're a cute shade of ice blue on you." Asta returned the compliment in a toneless voice as she continued to stare at him.

Now the staring was really unnerving. Andy was about to ask when Asta spoke again.

"Tell me what Bloom told you."

Andy's eyes widened. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Tell me, and I might be able to tell you even more—to help you understand."

-

_Beep…beep…beep…_ drowned some heart monitor in the distance.

Bloom cracked her eyes open and was met with white light that blinded her. She moaned in pain as she tried to stretch arms and legs. Something felt wrong. Why couldn't she move her arms?! Bloom looked down her body and found herself covered with a blanket. Her legs were free to move but her arms seemed to be tied to something. Upon further inspection, she found herself in a sort of hospital-like room that was separated by curtains, she was wearing a patient's gown and her wrists handcuffed to the gurney railings on the side.

What the hell?!

Bloom tried to sit up but was only impeded by the cuffs. Her heart racing and totally unaware of where the hell she was, her breathing became ragged.

Where was Andy? What had happened to him?! Oh God, not dead, she hoped! Sky would not let that happen, would he?! Sky was not that cruel, was he? Oh God, oh God!!! Where was she? Certainly not the local hospital.

The struggle came crashing back into her memory. The feel of Helia's laser threads chaffing her arms and impeding her wings, the way the nets got painfully tangled in her wings making her cry, the way Helia so roughly pulled her down with that amazing strength of his, the way more nets came flying at her with such force that she was afraid it was going to kill her, the moment she realised that no ordinary mosquito had bit her but that a yellow rubber needle was embedded in her thigh.

Oh God, oh God, where was she?!

She had to get out. At least take off the handcuffs.

The handcuffs were simply leather with a metal chain and Bloom tried to focus her energy to burn them away. She felt the energy pool in her stomach and steadily rose up her spine to behind her eyes where she focused her energy on burning the leather. Unfortunately, it never burned. Something was choking her. It was as if her Venturi tunnel of magic between her mind and her body was sealed off, letting only whispers of energy get through the filter. Bloom felt her gathered energy start to disperse quickly back into her body.

Her neck grew warmer, almost chokingly warm and suffocating as if it was both physically and magically choking her.

No, something was wrong! What was on her neck?!

Bloom whimpered uncomfortably as the choker grew threateningly warmer.

A door opened and closed and the sounds of feet on the floor were heard. To her left, Bloom saw a silhouette against the white curtains. Somebody tall was hunched over a bed. Bloom then realised that the steady beeping sound of a heart monitor came from that exact area.

"H-hello?"

The silhouette straightened and poked a head around the curtain. It was Chandra and she was giving her the nastiest stare she had ever received.

"So, you're awake," Chandra said in an unforgiving tone.

"Where am I?"

"The warehouse." The woman promptly left without another word, disdain trailing after her.

-

"Where is she?!" Stella came into the warehouse screaming with the rest of the Winx Club behind her.

"Could you be any louder?" Riven tossed back sarcastically from his seat on a couch. Brandon sat at a couch with him.

"Oh god, what happened?!" Stella screeched and paled at the sight of both men.

Brandon's sleeve was rolled up and his arm from his wrist to his elbow was red. Riven was hunched over his arm trying to carefully bandage the burn. Brandon had an identical bandage on his other arm. Riven himself had a bandage around his neck and one of his hands. Although there was a very faint red band around his other wrist. The coffee table beside them was a bottle of pills, a roll of bandages, scissors and a couple of glasses of water. Evidently, they had taken their share of painkillers.

"Riven, what did you do?!" Musa scolded.

"Well, yes, but we weren't exactly expecting Bloom to go supernova above our heads now, were we?!" Riven yelled back testily.

Musa backed off a bit, seeing as he was not in the best of moods.

"Let me do it," Tecna offered to Riven who gladly moved over for the tech fairy. Tecna grabbed the roll of bandages from Riven and began wrapping it up the brunette's arm. "This was all from Bloom?"

Brandon nodded wearily.

"Where's Helia?" Flora asked in an extremely small voice, almost inaudible but Brandon read her lips.

"MIR. Hypothermia possibly..." Brandon did not seem in the mood for talking.

Flora's eyes widened, seeming to forget how to breathe at the same time, and she ran for the MIR, her hand at her mouth and her eyes watery.

"And Timmy?" Tecna asked equally worried.

"Very lucky," Riven cut in. Musa was on her knees at his feet inspecting his hands worriedly. "Don't do that! It hurts!"

"Sorry."

"What do you mean 'lucky?'"

"He was nowhere near the action. All he did was shoot Bloom with a tranq from a mile away and we did the capturing."

Stella seemed to be frozen in her spot as she watched Flora run. She then looked to Brandon. "Is Helia…dying?" she asked numbly to no one in particular. What did the sunshine princess really know about the harsh realities of combat? Of the world of their specialist boyfriends?

Riven swore heavily and gave an incredulous stare. "Hypothermia is the lost of body heat," he hissed. "He was one of the closest to Bloom and he was essentially baked in an oven for ten seconds. What do you think?"

"Riven!" Musa reprimanded.

"I'm sorry but people die and people live. What do you want me to do, Musa?" he said defensively.

In a moment of anger, Musa slapped him. All of the Winx girls stared, surprised.

Musa stood up and pointed at him, unbelieving. "You are a disgusting person!" Musa shook as she spoke. "Utterly despicable! One of your friends is possibly dying and you say _that_! With Darcy, it was because of her spell. And then in Obsidian, you were under Mandragora's spell but _this_!"

Riven stood up and overwhelmed her with his height. "I've had lots of friends die, Musa! I can only worry so much! Don't tell me I'm a despicable person—!"

"WHATEVER," Chandra cut in yelling from across the warehouse with a booming voice, "you are talking about cannot possibly be more important than the issue at hand, which is Roxy. Come into my office now. All of you."

* * *

**Latter Note:** Hey, MusaRiven action! Oh God, I just realised that Helia is in theory dying. Isn't it strange to hear Asta think that Pink Floyd is a girls' band?

And we elaborate more on Diaspro's previous condition. Describing Diaspro's condition was rather difficult emotionally to write because I'm basically saying that Diaspro had never been her own person. Like she was written like a computer program to this and that. As if she were not a person but an object. I personally find that hard to think of somebody like that, which is what Sky feels towards the treatment. Her condition is sort of inspired by Henrik Ibsen's _A Doll's House_. Not literally the events of the play but the ideas talked about by Nora (a character in the play).

Let me make a note that even though Chandra ordered Sky to break up with Bloom, it does mean he has to follow her orders. Not everyone is right.

I'm leaving for Stratford, Ontario to watch Macbeth, Cyrano de Bergerac and Westside Story.


	27. Chapter 27 Great Dragon's Law of Return

**Verboten  
****Chapter 27**

November 1, 2009

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Winx Club.

* * *

The tension was insurmountable. An impossible wall that blocked their future. It was drowning and hopeless. Time had slowed to crawl, only living in the moment.

Everyone filed into the tanned woman's office nervously, unsure of how to act. The office was a square room with two desks, some chairs and the walls were covered with bookshelves and locked cabinets of medicine. Chandra nodded to Artos to fetch Flora and she joined Winx and boys with a face that betrayed a weird sort of emotion between peace and chaos. Sky was nowhere to be found and Bloom was in the MIR with Helia. Nabu and Timmy came in soon after Flora while Artos remained outside.

All sorts of emotions were boiling in the room and Chandra stared them down defiantly.

"First of all, it has been determined that Andy knows about _us_—the magic part of us." Chandra let the information settle into everyone's mind. There were some mumbles of anxiety with the idea. "Bloom told him in bits and pieces and even witnessed her transform and resist capture using magic. He doesn't know everything but there is no way that we can lie about our purpose on Earth."

"What does that mean then?" Timmy asked.

"It depends. He can be a liability and if he refuses to cooperate. On a legal level according to the Galactic Accords of Warfare, he is considered a political refugee but universal law probably means nothing to him on Earth and vice versa for us and Earth laws. In short, we can't keep him locked up here forever. We can only keep him for at most two weeks unless something happens."

Andy had not been truly locked up in a real jail cell but rather an empty and locked barrack that was guarded.

"And Bloom?" Stella asked.

Chandra took a deep breathe. The woman's stare narrowed at the Brandon and Riven's arms and neck. "I don't like what she did to the people she sent to the MIR. There are two people in there with hypothermia and three of them with severe burns as well as one who is seeing white spots in his vision. Bloom is in the MIR because of the sedative she was shot with. At the moment, I'm not feeling very generous even if she is my future queen," the woman seethed icily.

The colour in some of the girls drained as they listened. "What are you going to do with her?"

"I'm not sure. Families will obviously want some type of compensation later. Anyways, she can't do any more harm because I had her collared with a chastity collar to block any magical build up and she's handcuffed to her bed."

"What?!" Tecna said alarmed. "That's not all necessary!"

A chastity collar was a magic-blocking device that prevented most forms of magical building up. It was a torturous choking device that sometimes led the wearer to magic overdose, i.e. death.

"Until I can trust her enough to not throw fireballs at Sky—"

"Bloom never did—!"

"Ask Sky about it."

Everyone looked at each other confused.

"And Sky is where?" Brandon asked slightly concerned.

"Dealing with business. What I really want to get at is Roxy. Roxy is barely awake in her mind and I'm starting to worry. Normally, I would have given her a week at least but time is short and we're going to have to try to wake her up ourselves. I don't like it, you won't like it but I'm not going to wait a week to only find that she's a vegetable and will never wake up again."

"What are we going to do then?"

"What I want you, the Winx Club, to do is bring Klaus to me first thing tomorrow morning. Get Mike and Vanessa, too. We are going to have to tell them the entire truth."

"We can't do that! The mission, the Black Circle—?!"

"This is for Roxy's sake." Chandra statement was followed by a silence.

"But how are we going to wake her up then?"

"Sky knows the details. What is basically going to happen is that we're going to go through Roxy's mind, find out what's wrong, fix it and hope for the best."

"But we need an extremely skilled telepath for that," Tecna noted. "Do we have one? And even then, we need a diagnosis and…"

"Yes—Asta."

There was a knock at the door and it swung open to let in Asta. Everyone stared at her uncomfortably, at least the girls did. The witch waved a hand slightly, "Hi…why are you staring at me?"

"I'm getting to the part where we wake up Roxy."

"Oh."

"It involves you."

"I'm flattered?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Asta," Chandra reprimanded.

The witch was slightly taken back. "Sorry."

-

"Bloom." Sky stood at the edge of a dividing curtain, tentatively looking at Bloom.

Bloom's glare pierced him deeply but Sky brushed it off as best as he could and took a seat beside her bed.

"I want to talk."

Bloom clenched her fists tightly. The last time he wanted to talk and make up, he had ended up berating her and her ability to act while she threw a fireball at him. Here he was again, attempting something and something restless inside Bloom stirred. Something defensive with a sense of righteousness embedded deep inside.

She did not care as to why she was handcuffed or what the strange objet around her neck was. All she wanted were answers.

How had events ended up like this—a cruel twisting monster with no end in sight?

"Look, I want to apologise to you for the slap. I know that this is late but I feel like this is how it should start. Good gods, I was so pissed at you." Sky had taken to staring at the adjacent curtain to Bloom's right. "Bloom, the fight at bar on the first night I told you to forget about pride. Even then I was pissed because you got so mad at me for trying to help you. You made me feel like a piece of shit for caring about you. I'm not sure if that was what you intended but it happened anyways."

Bloom swallowed hard. Dignity. She would sit up straight and betray no emotions. Be the image of the queen he expected her, royal and dignified.

"Look, Bloom, I love you but you have to be willing to let me in. I know that we did not really get to know-_know_ each other in Magix during school."

Her image shattered immediately. "What? What do you mean?" the fire fairy said in a small voice. What did he mean know-_know_?

"Going on dates on the pretence of not knowing if we'll ever see each other after graduating is not dating, Bloom. At least to me. I never expected to meet you or to drop Diaspro. I've never really dated anyone besides you and this is sort of a first for me. I never really started seeing you as like a prospect until the Invasion of the Army of Decay."

"A pr-prospect?!" Bloom said incredulously. Her wrists tested the length of the cuffs on the bed, alarmed.

"Dating is so much more different on Eraklyon. I really don't understand half the time what you're expecting from me. Am I just supposed to stand back and let you do everything? The point is, I wish you would let me in, not just because we're on the same mission."

"But I try!"

For the first time, Sky looked her in the eye, testing her and Bloom turned away. "You're so stubborn sometimes, not willing to listen. I might not be on the same page as you even though you tell me how you feel. All you ever do is talk to me sometimes about how you feel but never what we could do to make it better. I'm here with resources to make your life easier but you never ask or tell me what you want as if I'm not apart of this at all. This is just like when we were at Alfea or Red Fountain. I'm there for you to talk to yet I can't do much to help you." Sky held his hands out before, offering. "Bloom, I'm here to help you. I'm here to watch your back but you have to let me rub backs with you. You have to accept that. This is not only _your_ mission where you're off to save your world. This is my mission, too."

Sky's scrutinising and harsh confessions forced Bloom silent as her will was battered down. Something bit her with guilt and regret. Years worth of it. Years worth of trust built, confidence gained, the worth of time shared come crumbling in an instant. Her mind went into overdrive as years worth of memory came crashing through her. Everything for nothing, to come crumbling down so easily over a few _misunderstandings_. That was it; he was building up all this tension, all of these reasons and moments and feelings to leave her, to break up with her.

"Right now, I don't even know where we stand anymore."

Yes, he was going to break up with her. It was inevitable. They had driven each other away in the space of a few months over so many little misunderstandings and petty fights. Bloom's Earth life had caught up with her and her partner in the roller coaster of life and Sky was getting sick, hating the unexpected turns, the unforeseen loops.

She had not meant to drive him away. She wanted to show him the life she had had before going to Magix, the way Earth ran, the way she had lived without magic for so many years but she had never expected that Sky would be so riled up about a boy she had dated in high school. Sky was so much more than Andy. Sky could probably kill him with one hand if he wanted to but why did Andy bother him so much? Andy was nothing compared to him, so why?

"I can't even be sure if I want to undo your cuffs. Shit, I'm terrified of you half of the time."

"Are you breaking up with me?" Bloom cut him off, voice weak. "I didn't mean to throw the fireball!"

He was terrified of her. He was scared of her?

Sky paled.

"You're going to break up with me. Why?" she whined pitifully.

"I never said—! Do you want me to break up with you?!" he said truly distraught.

"No! How is it that I'm is bully here, Sky?! Why am I the stupid one here?! I didn't do anything! Okay, I did something wrong but this isn't all my fault! I didn't know it would do that to Roxy, I didn't know!" Bloom's voice shrilly rang in the room. There was the constant beeping of a heart monitor in the distance. Sky was hunched over his lap in his chair.

Sky did not speak for a long time.

"Answer me, Sky!" Bloom yelled harshly and tested her cuffs again.

"Bloom, I don't want to break up with you. I love you…do you want me to…?" Sky downcast his face with his voice hoarse.

"Then why are you telling me this? And let me out of these cuffs. Why am I in these cuffs?! What's around my neck?! Sky, why are you doing this to me?!"

Sky cringed. "It's a precaution. It makes the others feel safer if you're…like this."

"What do you mean _safer_?!"

"Bloom," Sky said in a broken voice, "I don't know what you did out there but I have two people dying next to you."

-

"No-no! W-who?!" Bloom could not believe her ears and she would have covered them had it been for her cuffs.

A man named Perihelion Xylander and a fairy, Silversun Gentlemist. They were in the thralls of hypothermia after suffering from a terrifyingly high fever and their body temperatures were going down too quickly.

"I'm sorry—I didn't mean to!" Bloom's heart seized up at the thought of consequences of her actions. Her eyes started to fill with tears and she sniffled. People were suffering from her power. She had never meant for it to hurt anyone. She had only wanted to get away but she did not think she would hurt anyone.

"Bloom, are you listening to me? I said Helia is dying of hypothermia."

"No, Sky, get me out of these cuffs! I'll heal him and the other girl! I'll use the Dragonfire to heal them! I'm not going to let them die!"

Sky was startled by her sudden resolve to action as she struggled against the cuffs. "I can't let you go."

"But I brought you back from the dead when Icy killed you! Do you honestly think I'll do something bad?!"

An argument seemed to pass behind Sky's eyes as he contemplated letting her out and for a moment—Bloom doubted herself.

"Sky, you don't actually believe—?!"

"No, I don't."

Sky straightened and suddenly, Bloom was startled as she saw a completely different man come out of his strange reverie. He stood tall with resolve. His face was intent to do the right thing. He unbuckled the leather cuffs. He knew Bloom would never have meant it. She was a pure being, filled with a glowing enviable righteousness. She stood for all that was right in the universe. She had faced her universal opposite in the underground realm of Shadowhaunt and even stood up to her very equal in magic and in creation, the dark wizard Valtor. She had had her momentarily lapses into the murky sea of drowning darkness and suffered from the sins but she struggled to do what was right still.

Bloom jumped out of bed to only find herself clutching her rips. Her back burned and ached. Sky slipped an arm under her and helped limp. A flash of memory reminded her of Helia's silk-like laserstrings that had been tightly wrapped around her and the nets that had tangled her wings.

Helia had not meant it. He had only been doing what he was told to. She could not hold it against him nor could she hold it against the fairy who was also suffering. Sky held Bloom firmly do his side and helped her walk, briefly brushing his lips against her temple.

"I wish all of this never happened," he confessed. "I wish I never heard of Roxy. I'm supposed to be at home taking care of business but here I am on some forsaken planet galaxies away from home saving a girl I would have never cared for. I'm sorry."

Yes, that was what he felt. There was the constant fear of not knowing, of waiting, of hoping for the best that he had lived with for four years since he had met Bloom. It was a worn out feeling that he had grown up with and he was deathly sick of it now. The constant battle-ready feeling of expecting the worst to happen but living with it for four years after the Trix's Invasion, Darkar's break into Realix and Valtor's magicide, he had had enough of it. All he wanted to do was get back to a normal predictable, probably boring life at home in Earklyon and take care of his realm. Most of all, he wanted to wake up not fearing the worst every morning. Living like he was at war everyday did something to him. It had changed him into something he had never wanted.

In that moment, he felt tired and old—much like a war veteran.

"I can't do this anymore, Bloom."

-

Bloom braced herself as Sky helped her walk. The sight was so unbearable and frightening yet…normal. There was no blood, there was no heart monitor going a million miles an hour, there were no doctors mumbling syllabic commands to nurses while performing cardiac surgery. It almost looked like Helia and a petite girl were sleeping peacefully had it not been for the cocoon of blankets and dozens of heat packs surrounding them as well as being wired up to steadily beeping heart monitors and masks feeding them pure oxygen. Their oxygen masks were slightly misted over and they were sickeningly pale, even for Helia who was white as snow, with coloured cheeks.

Sky pulled back the dividing curtain and place a chair in-between the beds. He was eerily silent after his confession, almost ashamed. Bloom reached for Helia's hand on her left and then for the fairy's on her right.

"Your collar," Sky said and pointed at her neck. Without being told to, Sky bent down and reached for her neck, moving her hair at the same time.

Bloom shivered at the closeness and when the collar came off, she felt like she was shot with a cup of caffeine and she was alive again. The horrible thing was off—whatever it was. The collar was made of blue leather with a silver buckle and engraved with symbols that made Bloom look away like it was the plague.

Then she concentrated. She would need more energy than usual to bring these two back. She brought herself to that familiar blackness that was herself. And then her mind went whizzing past stars, galaxies and worlds.

In her mind's eye, she saw herself floating into the black void of space, barely illuminated by stars and galaxies. She was in a sort of place where time was frozen and in the distance she saw an arcing red serpent dancing around stars. She remembered this place from the time she had revived Sky. It was a cold and uninviting place that gave the feeling of being watched and she did not care for it very much. The red serpent came closer and closer until it spiralled around her threateningly as if looking at her like she was dinner. Its golden serpentine eyes glared at her and it growled. A warm breath heated Bloom up and blew her away some distance.

"Great Dragon, I need your h—"

"_Am I some bottomless pit of energy for you use at anytime, fairy? Do you not thin__k that I have sentience?"_ the Great Dragon roared inside her mind and punctuated it with a lion-like roar from its muzzle. _"You cannot abuse your power!"_

"But I need—!" Bloom was aghast. This was the first time the Great Dragon spoke back to her and her bones were trembling. The very essence of the universe was talking to her!

"_Silence!_"

Bloom broke into tears immediately. More resistance. She was trying to do the right thing but she only encountered more resistance every time. This was not fair. Now, the Great Dragon was against her?! Why?!

"But I never meant for them to get hurt! Please, help me! I never meant any of it!"

"_You are not exempt from the rules of the universe, fairy. The __law of return is not to be played with."_

"The law of _what_?"

The glowing red dragon coiled itself dangerously around Bloom and snorted in her face, almost breathing fire. _"You are a poor fairy if you do not know the law of return—the three-fold law! Whatever you put out into the universe will come back you for better or for worst. You made a thoughtless decision to attack those poor people who were only doing what they thought was best and you're suffering for the pain you've caused them."_

"But I never meant it! You helped me bring Sky back before. Why not now?!"

"_Because t__hat _man_ is needed for the future as you and the Earth fairy are."_

"I don't get it. Is something going on?!"

The Dragon snorted again. _"How naïve. I am regretting my choice in choosing you as my vessel."_

"Please, just tell me."

The Dragon stared at her unnervingly, daring her to step down. _"The future is only a select few to know. You are not one of them yet."_

"Fine, then! I don't care about the future!" Bloom said snippily. "I just want to bring them back! They never deserved to get hurt!"

"_It is too late for the man. His mind is ready to leave his body. The fairy is contemplating death right now."_

"WHAT?! No! Bring them back! Send them back to their bodies or whatever!"

"_Why should I?__ Death is death."_

"It was an accident! I never meant for them to get hurt. I don't know my own strength half the time!"

"_Their deaths should be more incentive for you to learn then, no?"_

"Stop wasting my time! If you won't help me, I'll do it myself!" Bloom screamed defiantly.

"_You will kill yourself if you do."_

"Then let it kill me!"

The Dragon roared angrily as Bloom pulled herself out of that dark void. The stars and galaxies when whizzing past her. _"You are impossible!"_ she heard him roar.

Pouring her energy into her belly and then up her spine through her arms into Helia's and the other fairy's, Bloom closed her eyes and said her familiar edict, "_Force of life._"

In the back of her mind, she heard the Dragon roar angrily again as she felt a stronger and purer white-hot energy that was clearly not her own go through her body into the artist's and the fairy's. The Dragon was pouring his energy into hers, Opening her eyes, she saw Helia's face return some colour and his hand twitch in hers and the fairy cough behind her mask and struggle in her cocoon of blankets.

That was one thing right. Now there were other things. She did not want to face them but running from her problems would solve nothing. She looked up at Sky. In the back of her mind, the Great Dragon roared again. Roxy.

-

Everything was a blur of events and Bloom found herself back in bed after being carried bridal-style by Sky. She had just closed her eyes for a moment and suddenly she was surrounded by her friends each wearing worried or grim faces. That psychotic witch Asta was standing right at her side while Chandra was glaring at Sky.

"You let her out. Why?" the tanned woman said.

"Does it matter?" Sky said harshly.

"It's a breach in protocol. You should have told me first."

"Protocol, my ass. You would have said no!"

Sky then started to swear in another language rapidly that sounded harsh and soft like Gaelic but filled with a lot of hissing sounds. Bloom had no idea what he said but it sounded like he got a load off his chest judging by the way Asta, Brandon and some of the others were giving afraid looks. Then Chandra nodded to Asta and stepped out. Inwardly, she felt happy for Sky and she blanked out again.

She cracked her eyes open again and screamed, "Andy?! Where is he?!"

After a moment, Sky, surprised, said, "He's fine."

"Sure is!" Asta said in a sunny voice that was obviously fake. "You just had to tell him everything, didn't you?"

"But you were going to kill me! I had to tell him!"

The entire ordeal came crashing back into Bloom's mind and she curled deeper into her bed as she flanked by both Asta and Sky. They both had questions on their faces.

"Don't lie to me! Andy heard you talking about killing me in the grocery two days ago," she accused. She turned to Sky.

Normally, Sky would have cringed but he did not. Instead, he held her gaze steadily. "Yes, I said that on the pretences that you got too dangerous to handle."

"Dangerous?!"

"Yes, dangerous. Okay, I admit I've been a jackass for who knows how long but, Bloom, you have the Dragonfire. I can't throw people at you and hope that they come back in one piece! Look at Brandon and Riven!"

Bloom took a careful inspection of the two and suddenly realised that their neck and arms were covered with bandages and the looked battered and weary. "Oh God, I'm sorry!"

"Oh, no hard feelings at all," Riven said sarcastically.

Bloom looked around at everyone and took in everything for the first time. Everyone was in a ragged state. Flora was hiding behind a curtain and Bloom was suddenly wracked with guilt. She cast down her eyes in shame.

Bloom then turned to Asta was idly looking at the ceiling and tapping her foot. "You…"

"Oh, I was doing what I was told. Blame it on him." Asta pointed to Sky who gave an incredulous look.

"You suggested it!"

"You would have come to the same conclusion!"

Asta blew a raspberry and Sky snarled. Bloom backed away into her bed instinctively and unsure. The two stared at each other defiantly.

"So, Roxy?" Bloom said.

"Comatose," Asta answered.

"At the moment, I'm in charge of all decisions regarding her health," Sky added. "Klaus is unable to make informed decisions so it falls to me."

Asta briefly explained the state of Roxy's mind and told her what is going to happen. "As soon as Klaus is here, I'm going to go through Roxy's mind and figure out what's wrong."

"I'm going through it with you then." Bloom said bravely.

Asta froze instantly at the suggestion and made a face that said "Hell no," to Sky.

"I'm not taking a tagalong. I can barely stand the noise in this room, let alone someone who holds so much power in one hand."

"No, I'm coming," Bloom argued. "I did this to Roxy and I'm going to get her out of it."

Asta stared at Sky for an answer.

"She's going with you, Asta."

"Then you're coming with me, Sky."

-

**Hours later**

Flora wrapped herself tightly in the woollen blanket and crisp white linens as she stared off into the darkness of the room. At first, all the girls had gone home except for her because she wanted to stay with Helia. She had only gotten a glimpse of him before being whisked off into Chandra's office. He had been pale as stone with his black blue hair contrasting. It was as if he was really dead and that terrified her immensely to see him like that. Had it not been for the slight rise and fall of his chest, she would have thought that he was dead for real.

Helia's life had almost gone out just like that. He had almost slipped through her hands until Bloom had brought him back with her Dragonfire. The flower fairy curled deeper into her cocoon and sniffed. What would have happened if Helia had died? Granted, hypothermia was not necessarily a terminal death but just because Bloom had the Dragonfire was enough to make her worry. Flora cried deeply.

She told herself that she would go and apologize to him straightaway. There were so many things that she wanted to do with him but she never thought that death could take him away from her so easily or so quickly.

Only a few rays of yellow light spilt in through under the door but other than that, the room was completely dark. Sky had offered her to sleep in the barracks because it was so late and she was nearly insensible around the MIR. Now that she was in bed and by herself, a pervading dark and calm sense of loneliness came.

Her pillow was adequate but not quite fluffy as she wanted it. The bed was a little stiff and sheets crisp, like they were never used. The overall furnishings of the room were scarce, leaving no sense of personality or individuality. Before turning off the lights, Flora had noted that the room was occupied by one other who was gone as evidenced by a few pairs of shoes under the bunk and the padlock on the black barrack box at the foot of the bed.

Suddenly, the door opened and Flora closed her eyes as light bathed her. The door gently clicked close and there was the sound of shoes silently padding the floor and then the sound of metal creaking under weight. Flora opened her eyes to see Asta sitting on her bed taking off her shoes. A headlight was turned on.

"Sorry!" she whispered as she began to change into a plain uniform-like grey t-shirt and shorts.

Flora averted her eyes, embarrassed.

Wait, wait, wait—she was sleeping in the same room as a _witch_?! Something inside her told her that this was severely wrong. Flora couldn't actually name why it was wrong but it was quite unsettling. Too late now, anyways.

Asta kneeled on the floor in front of the barrack box, working the combo lock. She pulled out various clothing tossed it about looking for something. Some clothes went flying into a sort of hamper full of dirty clothes in the corner and others unto the foot of her bed to be worn for tomorrow.

Then the lights turned off totally and the sound of metal creaking came as Asta shifted in her bed.

"You can't sleep."

Flora jumped in her bed and looked over to Asta in the darkness.

"I can tell that you're not going to sleep easily tonight."

The flower fairy took a ragged breathe.

"Save it. I can understand why. Do you want to talk instead?"

"Okay, sure."

"Can I be honest?"

"Uh…okay."

"I'm Helia's ex-girlfriend."

* * *

**Latter Note:** Oh God, I'm so happy I got that out. (The last line, I mean.) Asta is not going to try and get back Helia is something that I should emphasis now.

By the way, Stratford was awesome but Cyrano de Bergerac bored the crap out of me and Colm Feore as Macbeth was a little unsatisfying. To make up for that, I went to the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and bought a chocolate-covered brownie on a stick. Yum!

Next chapter, Silent Hill meets the Winx Club? That's what I'm planning anyways.


	28. Chapter 28 1346 Sicilia

**Verboten  
****Chapter 28**

Sunday, December 20, 2009

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Winx Club. If I did, it would probably a minute amount better with solid plots and have less continuity errors.

**Fore Note:** The last time I updated this was November 1. That is almost two months since then but ever since I got my grades, I needed to put more attention on my school work and my health. Some of you may know that I now need glasses to read to correct for my farsightedness in one of my eyes and I cannot read for longer than twenty minutes before my eyes are straining without my glasses. Even though I love writing this fic, I will not compromise my health and my future for it.

Jan 3: I'm extremely sick but I thought that I might as well post this because I don't like it sitting on my computer.

* * *

The three stood in a void of darkness. There was no light but Bloom, Sky and Asta could clearly see each other against the obscurity as if they were made of light itself. One moment, they had been all sitting in the MIR at Bloom's bed and as soon as Asta told her to touch her hand, the princess almost started screaming as she felt herself flying through some invisible wind as she was shot out of from her own body and into this inky blackness.

As soon as Klaus took in the alien base of operations that had been hiding in an unassuming warehouse only a few blocks away, the man tensed. The man had been on the defensive as soon as he saw the Winx Club (sans Bloom) walk into his bar that morning and asked him to follow them. The absence of his daughter had taken his toll on him and coming home to an empty and dusty house just days after Roxy's supposed 'spectral' possession had made it only worst. Then Sky had to explain _everything_ to the elderly man while patiently taking in the objections that "Magic is not real." In the end, Klaus had no choice but to believe when Sky showed him the industrial-sized kitchen. At first, he had nodded approvingly but then his eyes caught the pans soaring and vegetables being chopped mid-air with flying knives. Inevitably, he believed. He had no choice but to.

The most painful part came to explaining what had happened to Roxy. The entire idea that his daughter had been magically or mentally poisoned with some piece of jewellery did not bode well for the man and when Bloom stepped up to apologize, he was borderline insane. Sky tried to explain in Layman's terms what his legal responsibilities were to Roxy were and the little power Klaus had over his daughter's health but the blond king had stopped seeing that the father could take no more of this "insanity."

Settling back into her bed in the MIR, Bloom sat with a dubious face as Asta explained what she was going to do. "I'm going to touch you and yank your mind out of your body and into my mind."

She had done that exactly. Bloom didn't know how but the witch did. The fire princess grew a little apprehensive as she realised that this witch was Darcy v2.0. The similarities were startling: dark hair, personality, the epicurean taste, similar powers, an intriguing voice, body. It was too late now. At least she wasn't out to takeover the world or had a homicidal ice witch of a sister with blue blond hair—she hoped. Who knew how witch families worked?

Standing in the blackness that was Asta's mind, Bloom looked to Sky for reassurance but was only struck with awe as she saw the mental image that Sky projected. He seemed somehow older and scary.

The Sky she was seeing was only a mental projection and maybe Sky desired to look like that but she had to admit that the uniform was intimidating? He was still Sky but he wore a straight face that seemed to be totally focused on the task at hand and that focus made her feel small. He wore an all black combat uniform that was loose but form-fitting and full of pockets and belts. On his hip was a sheathed sword attached to a thick leather belt. The hilt was decorated with sapphires and a wolf motif.

Asta wore a tight black jumpsuit of her own; sort of the antithesis to Sky's uniform although they were undoubtedly similar. It was the same one that she had worn when she had gone to get her in Punta Ala. It was plain except for the way it bent the light like it was a black liquid mirror. She fiddled with her gloves and her utility belt, obviously not too happy with the predicament.

Bloom found herself wearing her shimmering blue winx outfit with adolescent-like wings despite never having triggering her transformation. Even more, she was back to her basic form which only showed the inner turmoil she was in. It was an embarrassing demotion. She had no time to think about what was going on with herself when Asta started to speak.

"This is physical void." She pointed to the blackness around her. "This is a metaphysical and totally malleable space in your mind—meaning that anything like the laws physics do not always apply here. In this plane, you're only as powerful as your will and your words—magic only. Me kicking Sky won't really hurt him unless he's expecting it to hurt. It will, but not as much. Thus the name _physical_ void," Asta explained. "Right now, we are in _my_ physical void. As in my mind. Your real body is still working by itself, sleeping that is, but your awareness is no longer there since it's here in my mind."

"Your body is a vegetable," Sky said.

"Right. Right now, you're only seeing _this_"—she meant the darkness—"because this is what I want you to see. But I can change it since this is my mind." Asta waved her hand and suddenly, the blackness exploded into a flood of colours. As the magical energy swirled around them, a torrential flood of a thousand whispering voices assaulted Bloom's ears and made her shiver. Those whispers were things she was probably not meant to hear—all of them which were from her friends.

"_Does he love me? Am I pretty? When will we get home? I need to get rid of them soon. They'll kill me. We need to set a wedding date."_

Bloom shivered as she tried to ignore them. The colours coalescent into a temple of milky yellow marble with a statue of the Great Dragon in the middle. The whispers stopped abruptly and Bloom brought her hand to her head to realise that she had a major headache. She looked over to Sky to see him unfazed by the shift in reality.

"When we get to Roxy's mind, we will probably face a wall. Not like a real wall but something that will block us from getting in. What we have working for us is probably the fact that Roxy isn't aware that she can change the laws in her mind. She might not even realise that she's only asleep."

"But if she's sleeping, how is she awake…?"

"The body is sleeping but the mind never sleeps for it does not need to. There are only levels of activity and inactivity. The mind is a forever working machine that focuses on different tasks at different times like doing math when you're awake but having dreams when you're asleep. Got it?"

Bloom nodded. "I think so."

"One more rule, if you die, in Roxy's mind, you die for real. You'll still have your body but no consciousness. So don't die. Got it?"

Bloom nodded again.

"Good, I'm going to bring us to Roxy's mind right now."

And then they were mentally flying again. Bloom saw Sky, Asta and the golden temple fade from her vision and she felt some imaginary wind pass her. Just before feeling the ground leave her feet, she felt something fill her hand. She looked to see Sky looking back.

They were flying. Bloom did not flutter her wings but she could feel the magic and energy fly pass her. She looked to see that she had no body even though she could feel Sky's hand in hers. They were in a dark shimmering tunnel. Bloom could sense that Asta was just ahead of her and Sky was just beside and the—a bone-shattering CRACK!

Bloom and Sky's body materialised immediately and they bounced off the stony black wall like rag dolls. Bloom held on to Sky tightly, waiting for them to hit the floor. They never did.

"Bloom, you can let go." Sky looked down at her awkwardly.

They were floating. There was no up or down but the black wall that was surrounding Roxy. Contrasting from that was the white space in which they floated. The two straightened as Asta examined the wall. There was no top or bottom or end or beginning. Bloom ran a hand over the smooth surface of the wall as did Asta.

"This is a self-made wall," Asta noted. "It's being protruded directly from the inside."

"That means that she either going to never wake up or she is going to destroy what is inside this and start all over again," Sky said in a clinical tone.

"Amnesia," Asta clipped.

"We have to break it with something stronger then."

The witch raised a hand and experimentally pushed her mind against it in a tentative non-invasive manner. "I suspect that this won't be…easy…?"

Easily, the wall disintegrated a perfectly circular hole into existence under her mental push in the eight feet thick black wall. Inside the hole, they saw a grey clouded sky and a street of an abandoned city.

"Um, okay. Sure, let's go with that." Asta nodded and quirked an eyebrow at the phenomenon. "Shall we?"

"After you." Sky offered. They approached the hole and Asta went in headfirst.

"Wait!—you're just going to jump into their without a plan or _anything_?!" Bloom yelled.

Asta turned her head to look at Bloom, "That was the plan. I can't figure out what I have to fix unless I can make a diagnosis of what's going on. This is the wall that Chandra was talking about."

"But what if something goes wrong?!"

"What can possibly go wrong?" Asta criticised. "We're three awarenesses with various magical knowledge invading one fledgling fairy who has no experience."

"But—!"

"Bloom, it'll be fine," Sky said reassuring, offering her a hand.

She looked at his hand warily as if he were holding something dangerous to her. It was absurd. Everything was absurd but Bloom went through the hole anyways not wanting to be left alone. She did this to Roxy in the first place and she would fix her. They entered into the hole. Gravity came into affect and everyone felt their feet plant to what could only be assumed as down.

Stepping out unto the concrete of the emptied street, Bloom looked to around and felt a pang of familiarity. "Gardenia?"

It was Gardenia. Except empty. It was unnervingly empty. There was nobody around, no sounds of traffic, no hum of a car's engine, no sound of people talking. Nothing, absolutely nothing. It was unnerving because Bloom had never seen Gardenia or anywhere like this. There was always something going on because that was the very sign that there was life. She had once had insomnia in high school and one of the things that she would do was look out her window into the dark street but there was always something going on. Every couple of minutes, a car would drive by to unsettle the noise and the darkness with its lights and engine.

The sky was grey and a heavy feeling of desolation engulfed Bloom. This wasn't natural. Gardenia was supposed to be filled with life.

"It's most likely _a_ Gardenia," Asta said. "If what we're seeing is Gardenia, than that means that Roxy sees her life in terms of memories attached towards objects and places. That's normal. That means that her actual awareness must be walking around here somewhere then."

"Could you find her by sending a mental probe of the place?" Sky asked.

"No, this is Roxy. I can't find somebody if I'm already inside of them."

"Then we look for her on foot."

"We're going to have make it quick—no, the portal closed already!" Asta said. The portal that they had come through—literally a hole in the middle of the street—was gone.

"We're trapped?!" Bloom squeaked.

Asta waved her hands about where the portal had been as if sensing for something. "No, not yet."

"Forget about the portal," Sky interrupted. "We have to find Roxy's awareness and persuade her out of amnesia if that's what she's planning."

"Right."

They nodded and split up.

-

Bloom took wing scanning the streets of the bleak and empty Gardenia. The sky was overcast and the sea was dark. There was not even the sound or sight of birds flying in the air. Below, Sky was making his way across the city on foot. He leapt from rooftop to rooftop with superhuman strength and speed.

They got to the boulevard beside the beach where the Frutti Music Bar was. Bloom landed beside Sky, tired somewhat.

"Why the bar?" Bloom asked.

Sky looked over the edge of the roof down the street, taking in the emptiness. Bloom stood beside him with her gangly wings and tried to tuck them in a way that they would not be so obstructing.

"'Home is where the heart lies.' The bar is a relevant place to Roxy, right? I think that her consciousness might be here if not at her house."

"She's going to appear as a person, right?"

"She should but anything can happen. If she considers herself more like a dog in her mind, we might be looking for a dog."

"Oh, I hope not."

The couple descended to street level and cautiously approached the obviously closed. Sky cupped his hand around his eyes as he tried to look through the window and pass the protective curtain of metal slats of the darkened bar. With the grey sky above and the lack of life, they both worried. There was no even the sound of water crashing against the beach surface or the simple whirl of wind down the street. It was unnaturally quiet.

"No one's in there but there's a light on in the kitchen. I'd like to check it out." Sky motioned for her to follow him to the back of the building, sticking close to the wall.

"Why are we being careful?" Bloom whispered as Sky placed a hand on the hilt of his sword.

"You think that there's no one in there?"

"Who could possibly be in there? I thought that only people around was us and Roxy."

"Memories aren't seen only as objects but people too, Bloom. Like relationships." The blond king came to a halt and rattled the back door. Locked.

Bloom was about to whisper a spell when Sky pulled out a Swiss army knife and easily picked the lock. He unsheathed his sword to reveal a solid double-edged blade that shone brilliantly blue, almost white like ice. Bloom felt a noticeable drop in the temperature as Sky entered with his sword out before him.

They quietly and nerve-wracking slowly went down the hall. Sky opened every door on the way to the kitchen and Bloom kept expecting the worst. The worst was a gang of scaly oversized velociraptors to come flying through the door—something like from Steven Spielberg's _Jurassic Park_—straight for Sky's head. The setting seemed just perfect for that to happen since they were just beside a kitchen with everything seemingly being made of shiny reflective metal. Much to the Bloom's relief, that never happened as Sky opened the last door to a storage room and lit the lights. Everything was normal.

On to the kitchen. The kitchen with the lights on despite the rest of the building being dark. Something was definitely not right.

_Gulp._

Anytime now, velociraptors would come crowding them in the puny hall and tearing them limb from limb.

Maybe it was just her or Sky was just being extremely slow—most probably, it was _her_—but time was going extremely slowly. It was a ridiculous fear. Pff, velociraptors! Bloom kept extremely silent as they slowly crept to the kitchen.

Sky looked into the empty kitchen cautiously. There was no one about yet the lights were still on. Definitely wrong.

Seeing no danger Sky stepped further into the kitchen with his sword pointed to the ground. Bloom followed and turned to be confronted with a sight.

"Klaus?!" Bloom said in disbelief, almost screaming. Klaus stood before her carrying a tray as if he were coming in to fill more orders. Sky jumped on the defensive before Bloom.

"Bloom? Sky?" The older man, healthy and not bandaged in any way, looked at them strangely before being shot in the back and bullet exiting his chest and lodging itself into the wall. Klaus's eyes widened in horror as he fell to his knees and unto his face. A red pool formed around him.

Bloom screamed while Sky's instincts told him to pull Bloom by the collar down to the floor as he ducked behind a counter. He covered her mouth with his hand to silence her screaming. They waited for more fire. Bloom's heart sounded a panicky rhythm as the blood in her head started to make feel faintly.

Now, she definitely preferred the velociraptors.

Sky whispered harshly into her ear. "This isn't real, Bloom. This is only Roxy's mind—only a memory."

Bloom looked to her right as she saw Klaus's head in a pool of dark blood and puddle expanding in an alarming rate.

Sky forced her head to turn to him. "Bloom, look at _me_! This isn't real."

A harsh bloodcurdling scream resounded behind them and then there was the sound of something boiling loudly, much like a vat of boiling thick oil. More screams as if the people were being boiled alive, and then random gunfire. Bloom huddled tightly inside Sky's arms waiting for it to end. She covered her head with her arms and leaned into Sky as much as possible. Then there was silence.

By then, Bloom was shaking with fear. She was sure as hell not immune to bullets and Asta's advice, "If you die, in Roxy's mind, you die for real," rung in her mind. This was not what she had wanted to see at all. She had never been this close to gunfire before and frankly, she was terrified to an inch of her life. Guns were for the eight o'clock news and movies only—not _real life_. This was fucking insane! This was supposed to be Roxy's mind, right?! Then what the hell was going on in that girl's head then?!

Then Bloom jumped as she felt her skirt become wet. She opened her eyes to see the pool of blood had reached her. Klaus's body was hidden at the end of the counter and facing away from Bloom but the pool of blood was increasing at an alarming rate. Klaus was enveloped in his own blood, bright red and increasing by the second. _There was no way that there was that much blood in the human body._ She grasped at Sky, unable to word her fear. Sky glanced at the blood, acknowledging it before hazarding a look over the counter to see if there was anymore danger.

"Sky," she said hoarsely as she got into a squatting position, trying to avoid the blood. She watched as blood surrounded her blue boots and clung to Sky awkwardly for dear life.

"Let's go," he said and stood up straight. Whatever the danger was, it was gone but there was a pervading smell in the air. Like burning flesh and the sound of something sizzling.

Bloom stood as the blood under her boots made disgusting wet sounds. She looked over to restaurant side of the bar pass the order window. It was still dark but with what little light there was, she saw black fleshy masses move ever so slightly like they were twitching. Bloom shivered and felt her stomach want to heave. She brought a mouth to her hand and Sky held her firmly by the shoulder.

There was no way she was walking pass…

"Close your eyes," Sky said.

Bloom had them close the moment her hand flew to her mouth. Sky's sword clicked in its scabbard and he swept Bloom into his arms. She felt herself be carried away but her stomach was ready to heave. The temperature rose noticeably until it was an unbearable heat, like she was baking in an oven. She felt Sky sweep her up into his arms and carry her outside where the cool air. He walked for a long while. His long steady strides were calming in the darkness behind her eyes but the unspeakable horrors of the part stood out in her mind. Bloom's face was buried in his shoulder and she refused to move. She opened her eyes again when he placed her on the sand.

Her eyes were assaulted with a heavy lingering fog. "Where are we?" Bloom noted. They were still on the beach judging from the sand but everything was white. The fog was so dense and white that they could not see beyond a few meters. Something was missing.

"Sky? Where are we?" she asked again.

"I don't know. I didn't even walk that far when the fog started coming in."

The fog cleared to show the vague outline of the horizon over the ocean.

"Don't leave!" Bloom panicked as she saw Sky stare intently at the horizon. She clung to him tightly. "What happened in the bar?"

Sky wrapped his arms around and swallowed nervously. He leaned his head into Bloom's hair. "That was the robbery—a re-enactment."

But Klaus was not dead? She had just saw him this morning, healthy as one could be with a broken collar bone, bandaged arm, sling and the new revelation that his daughter was a fairy.

They were silent for a long time. As the moments passed by, Sky's grip on Bloom tightened, showing his worry. Just when she thought he was about to speak or offer some type of explanation, Sky stood up and said, "We need to keep moving. We have to find Roxy."

Again, Bloom felt swept back in Sky's trail as he moved forward to wherever he was going. She was eating his dust as he ran full speed ahead. His level-headedness and determination to complete the mission was rearing its ugly head again. The first time had been in Shadowhaunt when Stella fell down the underwater river and Brandon had dove after her. Bloom had been about to dive after them until he had plucked her out of the air midjump to have her butt kiss the ground.

"Sky, just stop. Just the slow hell down!" Bloom covered her eyes in frustration and took in a harsh breathe. "Explain to me what just happened!"

Sky was silent, staring at her. She saw a muscle jump in his jaw.

"Is that it, Sky?! No explanations?!"

"What do you want me to say, Bloom?"

"I don't know!" she said shrilly, "Anything! What happened to Klaus in there?! The restaurant?!"

"I'm sure you've heard all about it on the news." Sky words felt empty as he said them. "The boiling sound was when Helia threw hot water at a robber, Klaus being shot, the fight…"

"Sky, how do you know any of this?!" Bloom yelled unsatisfied with the answer. "You seem to know everything that's going on in here like it's a walk in the park here while scary crap is happening left and right!"

Sky swallowed hard and closed his eyes as if he were calling something painful. "Can you walk and talk at least?"

-

The emptiness of it all was extremely unsettling to Asta's eyes. There was absolutely no one about. No wind rustled the greyish Gardenia, as if afraid to upset some unknown balance. Visually, it was almost boring, giving Asta some incentive to cause some type of mayhem to break the monotony. Like geesh, even a little whistle of the wind would have been nice.

However, this was not the real world. If she moved one thing, even the tiniest inch, she would compromise whatever memories that Roxy attached to that object. The town hummed with a sort of mental noise. Despite being inside Roxy's mind, Asta could still hear the formation of thought. She could hear trains of thought ebb and flow like water out of the streets but they were clearly not Roxy's. It was as if a second consciousness had taken residence in Roxy's frantic and shattered one like someone wearing someone else's clothes.

The symptoms were similar to possession. It proposed a sort of ethical gallimaufry of problems to her. Another time. Messing with someone's mind was one thing but messing with a mind that was already muddled with someone else's consciousness was another.

She would do as she was told to do.

It was proving difficult though.

The witch stopped in her tracks and rubbed her eyes. Patience was a virtue, she reminded herself, as was temperance and diligence. She had to be virtuous if she wanted what she wanted happening to come to fruition.

Opening her eyes again, she cleared her mind and saw a purple smog cross her vision amongst a light shimmering girlishly pink mist. Her eyes were clear of her thoughts as she saw the thoughts occurring inside Roxy. This had been what she was feeling. Two consciousness, one pink and one purple. Yeah, that was bad.

The purple smog seemed to writhe like a worm around the small and dainty pink mist, almost like a battle of dragons trying to suffocate the other. The purple smog constricted itself around its pink partner like a parasite, absorbing it and Asta watched in half-horror and half-curiosity. The smog thickened until she could no longer see Gardenia and she was surrounded by the purple haze.

"Oh crap, this isn't good." She took a defensive stance and lit a ball of light in her hand to see. She sensed that the purple smog had squashed the pink mist and was taking over, changing the environs. A sound like the clap of thunder and the moving of the earth beneath her like an earthquake warned her that drastic changes being made. Asta was assaulted by a billion thoughts and whispers, her mind instinctively trying to decipher them. It only made her mind recoil, like being burned by a fire. Too many. There were too many thoughts for her to decipher as a myriad of voices speaking strange languages surrounded her in the fog.

And then suddenly, the smog cleared away as if being brushed out like dust by a broom to reveal a dirt road flanked by vaguely strange square stone houses. All of them were one story with wooden doors and simple square windows or shutters. Asta got a vague déjà vu feeling as if she were looking back in time or revisiting history class. The purple fog disappeared into the intersecting streets and the clouds cleared to reveal the sky with the sun partially hidden behind mountains in the distance.

"Where in the world am I now?" Asta said tensely. "Roxy, you've got some major problems. See what happens if you hang with Bloom for too long. Bloom is a walking omen of bad luck." The witch looked up and down the street for clues and even in the windows of the buildings. She gathered that she was standing on some type of commercial street. She looked at the dirt and saw footprints of horses mingled with bare feet and some shoes. That had to mean something.

Up the street stood a towering stone building decorated with all sorts of complicated motifs and statues, similar to the older buildings she had seen in Gardenia. Someone, some member of the religion who took care of the building, had once told her that the style was called 'Gothic' after standing in front of the church looking up in awe at the marvellous designs. The church was dominated by a grey bell tower guarded by stone lions that had begun to din. Dogs barked, roosters cawed and various domestic sounds echoed through the town.

Then the street started to come alive as people stepped out of their shops. She smiled nervously, expecting some type of reaction but there was none.

And then the strangest thing happened, someone walked right through her! "What the freck?" she said in alarm. She soon discovered that no one could see her. She waved, she screamed and did everything possible to attract attention. No one saw her.

A procession people came down the street dressed in robes and long dresses and cloaks—a style that was totally opposite to current fashion trends on Earth. Their language was clearly understandable to her on some deep meaningful level but she was perplexed as she tried to lipread them alone. That meant that she did not know the language but the memory was bleeding into her mind, giving her some ability to interpret what was going on.

Theories bloomed into her mind. From what she could understand of the evidence around her, she was seeing Earth at a different time. Outdated clothing, dirt roads, stone houses with fires making smoke in the chimneys. Random facts came to her mind as she tried to hold the memory still in her mental grasp and read it.

It was the year 1346.

Asta stared at the procession as they casually made their way down the street, chattering. They were expecting a visitor to come up by the river and they wanted to welcome the guest properly as he had come from far away—somewhere from Africa. They were fairies mixed with possibly witches. The memory fed her the necessary information and she learnt their names. Intrigued at the memory, Asta followed the group.

-

"That continent—the tribes and kingdoms down south have been suffering—no, that is not the right term," Cipriano paused briefly and Nebula and her brother Steorra watched words flit behind the redheaded scholar's eyes. "They are enthralled by the passions of war and power. That is only the short of it though. The land has been ravaged by forbidden magic and everyone fears for the day the land deals out its hand in divine retribution."

"Savages," Nebula said.

"Disgusting," Steorra said.

"I'd hold my tongue if I were you," Cipriano advised stiffly. "You are no better than the kingdoms south if you are so swift to label them 'savages.'"

Nebula pretended to be occupied with a flock of birds flying overhead and ignored the scholar. Steorra continued, "At least, I am civil enough to consider peace."

"Don't be an idiot. Peace is an idea."

Steorra narrowed his eyes indignantly.

"There is only stasis and change. A time when nothing moves and a time when everything moves. Peace is the concept of political stasis and you should know that stasis is not always possible to create."

Cipriano, Steorra and Nebula walked ahead of their little serious group of people. Steorra and Nebula had arrived all the way from Cóiced Ol nEchmacht of Éire with their mother, Meadhbh, the Queen of the Fae, after receiving premonition from their Fairy of Limning that a conference would be held in Sicillia to discuss the unknown tension in Africa. It seemed that all the major leaders across the west and the east were gathering for something big. They weren't sure of what but something was coming.

Steorra was older than Nebula by two years. Tall with long braided black hair and dark blue eyes, he wore chainmail and gleaming armour with his sword buckled to his waist. A warrior and well-read person, he had often found himself at odds with Cipriano, a middle-aged priest and scholar from Verona with blood red hair, icy blue eyes and skin as pale as stone. He wore white robes with a red scarf threaded with gold. Nebula was a girl with dark blue black hair and dark blue eyes like her brother. Her hair fell only to her shoulders and she wore a midnight blue gown with a low back weaved with silver threads and a dazzling circlet decorated with rubies. Her shimmering pale wings burst from her back.

Cipriano regarded the two teenagers with distaste and turned to his peers: Meadhbh, her English husband Bladen, the children's caregiver Morgana, the Limning Fairy. He had met with them in Milano by coincidence but they had all responded to the instinctive call to Sicillia.

Cipriano was an odd man who seemed to have measure of dislike for everyone. He had revealed very little of himself except that he had travelled from kingdom to kingdom amassing his knowledge since the eight century "for the sake of knowledge," as he had said often. Steorra had an instant disliking for the man judging by his robes as most scholars were members of the Church since they had easier access to information. There was a certain irony in it.

"Do you believe in God, Father Cipriano?"

"Very much so, Steorra."

"Then how is it you are here when you believe in God?"

Cipriano gave him a patronizing smile and promptly ignored him. Steorra seethed and walked ahead with his sister, speaking rapidly in Gaelic. The man turned his attention to Morgana who wore a very serious face. The caregiver was a fairy who wore a simple green gown. She had long brown black hair, dark blue eyes and translucent wings with shining blue veins.

Morgana had a thoroughly uplifting lilt in her voice. She regarded the siblings lightly and always kept an eye on them. "I doona think you should antagonize them so, Father. They only know from what they read. Let them be."

"I do not think a boy is a child anymore when he is already carrying a sword, signorina." He nodded to Steorra who was herding his sister from a display in the window. A man must do what he must to survive in this world. When one has the luxury of living as long as I have, you learn to appreciate things in their absolute terms. If I have to lie to stay alive, then so be it. Being a priest is comfortable and affordable living. No one bothers me, I do the necessary rituals and no one questions it."

"Have you ever touched a Bible, Father?"

"I worked as a scribe for ten years around the turn of the millennium. I've read every verse. Frankly, signorina, it's just an elaborate tale to scare children but it does occasionally have the useful piece of advice."

"You are a strange man, Father."

"I am a practical man."

"How did you come to live for so long?"

"I don't know. I was merchant's son and my father was traveling in Persia. The trip proved fatal as the city we stopped had something contaminating its river. Everyone was so sick, even I. I thought I was going to die until I woke up one day right as rain but my father and brother were dead along with half the city. I don't care very much for the details of how I came to be immortal so don't bother. And you, signorina—anything worth noting?"

"I am only a baker's daughter. My father's an elf from Erebos and my mother's an orestiad and so, she is wont to not leave her place of birth for long."

One of Cipriano's brows arched. "I wasn't aware that nymphs were inclined to have children, let alone capable of having them."

Morgana regarded the man uneasily. "Yes, well, they are still capable of emotions despite their limited immortality."

"Does that make you immortal, signorina? Being the offspring of an immortal?"

"Nay."

They made their way to the seaport where an array of boats from different kingdoms had lined the ocean, giving an impending sense of dread as Nebula saw flags from all the major kingdoms. She saw a French ship, an English, a Spanish and other unidentifiable flags that danced out of her mind. An entourage of Chinese had arrived by air on the backs of their renowned heavenly dragons. The town that they were all gathering at was a small barely important town in the whole grand scheme of the world. All the kings, queens and every leader gathered at this town. These leaders were not leaders of countries like Philippe VI of Valois or Edward III but the leaders of the various magical races that had migrated to Earth from various other worlds, bringing their culture.

Meadhbh was from a line elected kings and queens of fae that had taken their home to the north, choosing to stay away from mainland troubles as much as possible. They had chosen to keep themselves separate from the humans on Earth. There was no open enmity between them and the Earthlings but it was preferable to live separately as each others lives were frighteningly different.

Later that night, a large red tent was erected in a meadow outside the village and they held a war council immediately. A Chinese princess who guarded the secrets of the dragons called Mu Lan held the position of chairman. Mu Lan was a stirringly beautiful person Asian that would have been fit to be an emperor's concubine and had a face with serpentine-like quality that did not detract from her beauty. Her unfaltering gaze scrutinized every speaker, putting them into the fabled hypnotized state. A sort of dragoness in her own class, she even overshadowed her powerful warrior husband, Shang. Right now, she seemed to be in a room full of adult-sized children all floundering for a solution.

Nebula regarded the Chinese woman with green as she watched her control the council with the grace and finesse of a man. Mu Lan was the second woman that Nebula had ever seen who held a such a fine position power and held it properly, doing what was absolutely necessary unlike some men. The first woman was her mother, Meadhbh.

"You have all elected me as your chairperson, given me your armies, every piece of gold and silver, presented yourself with utmost loyalty," Mu Lan sighed femininely and leaned her head on one hand as if bored. "Every notable leader or notable figure of all the races not born of this planet that had come seven millennia ago from Erebos, Magycks, Tian…and yet, we do not have a single representative from the continent across the Roman Sea to tell us what is going on?"

Everyone fidgeted in their seat. Nebula looked around the room for noticeably dark-skinned people—black people. None. Even Nebula started to sweat. The meeting was not going well at all.

Nebula was not part of the actual council but more of an observer with her brother. They stood behind their seated mother whose face betrayed very little emotion. Nebula could feel that the tension that her mother was feeling as did Steorra. The siblings should not have been there. It was late enough and most people would have been asleep by now if one was a crofter or farmer. The village was overrun with servants and lesser nobles who had accompanied their leader as an entourage and entire town was abuzz as if someone had emptied a bottle of oil on it and they were waiting for someone to drop a match.

A ruckus from outside the tent interrupted the quietness that had taken over. Mu Lan narrowed her eyes dangerously from being interrupted and hissed like snake. "Let the woman in!" she screamed shrilly at the guards.

Suddenly, Morgana came in at run looking for someone in particular followed by the guards.

"Who are you and what do you want?" Mu Lan asked.

Morgana was stricken by the onslaught of Mu Lan's serpentine gaze and she stuttered on her words, "I h-heard somethi-thing on the wind! I am the Fairy of Limning, I can hear things from faraway. Boats, a dozen warships sailing no flags. It's full of black-skinned men. Barely any whites."

Mu Lan leaned forward in her seat as did everyone else. "How far?"

"Just on the horizon, milady."

Nebula's was enveloped in shock as the enormity of the situation fell on her.

"Daimon, I want a full report on those ships from your mermaids now!" Mu Lan screamed, "Shang, have the dragons saddled and armoured! Wake up all every man and woman with a sword and a spell. I want a confrontation on the water. Don't let the boats within an arrows distance of the shore."

All hell broke loose as the small village was a flurry of activity with people tensely waking from their slumber and reaching for every weapon available in preparations for the warships. Every lamp was lit, bathing the village in an orange yellow glow. Nebula watched helplessly as she was forcefully sheltered into the innermost most fortified building in the village as her brother, father and mother ran off to gather their forces.

Sitting at the window of her room, Nebula gathered herself in a thick quilt and watched as the seaport slowly became lit like a festival of war. Long dragons swirled in the sky like sea snakes dancing in the water and belched blinding white fire. Their roars made her bones tremble and for a one very still moment, she knew that something bad was going to happen.

-

"So are you going to say anything, Sky?" Bloom said.

They walked slowly beside the tide. The beach near the Frutti Music Bar had long disappeared or the bar itself had but they were definitely nowhere near anything resembling Gardenia. The beach was surrounded by tall rock on all of its remaining sides.

There was an uncomfortable space between Bloom and Sky that created had an antagonistic schism. Calm was not a word to describe their relationship. It never had been. It was always 'Diaspro this, Diaspro' that and now, 'Andy this, Andy that' although it had never been voiced aloud. Bloom was waiting Sky's reaction to Andy, just waiting for him to blow up and come running to her in selfish anger where she would then rebuttal with how she felt when she found out about Diaspro. It seemed though that Sky did not care much for Andy, almost as if he didn't have the time of day to spend thinking about some lowly musical artist from some backwater planet. Did he even care?

"What do you want to know? Just ask me and I'll tell you."

"Well, explain all of this!" Bloom raised her arms to the sky. "Why did Asta force you to come? Aren't you the king? Couldn't you have overridden her?"

"Yes and…no."

"Sky?"

"Asta is a lot more complicated than you would like to imagine."

"Then explain it to me. Who is she and why does she want you here?"

"Asta is my friend from school. I knew her before that but we weren't really friends. The school was run like a military base so yeah. She was part of my squad and we had almost the same branches of study but her goals were different from mine when we were growing up. She wasn't a bad person but we see things in different lights. She had her beliefs from home and I had mine…anyways, she came to school already knowing a lot of skills and so did I. The school determined where our potential was and they put us in the same program—the performing arts."

"You did art?"

"Is it that hard to believe? A school is a school. It's normal, isn't it?"

"But what about fighting? Swords and guns and stuff?"

"That's considered part of performing arts to some extent, I guess. I learnt how to fight long before that. Anyways, I did political sciences and languages and she did applied sciences later. We did missions during the year and performances during the winter—"

"You're still holding back, Sky. Tell me," Bloom accused.

"Okay, we didn't exactly go to a normal school. It was a military school—co-ed, too. Think of…think of a female specialist—someone who is a hardass like Riven with all the grace of a female. She's awkward but very willful and objective. She always does the right things even if it doesn't look like it—she wasn't trained to be a field operative. She was more behind the scenes, an instigator—like interrogation, investigation, intelligence…"

"Like a spy?"

"Something like that." Sky looked to the sky uneasily as it began to darken from its happy bright blue into blackness at an unnatural rate. Stars like heavenly battle strategies started to shine brightly. Brighter than Bloom had ever seen them in Gardenia, maybe just as bright as a clear dark night at Alfea where she was miles away from the light of civilization.

"We should get to higher ground before the moon brings in the tide." Sky examined the sheer face of rock before him with a hand. He noted the layers of shale and siltstone. The rock face was at least five times his height. He began to climb carefully as Bloom fluttered just above him. She watched helplessly.

"Sky, the moon is moving across the sky kinda fast," Bloom said as she watched the moon move up into the sky at an alarming rate.

"Okay, then do me a favour: cover my back for tidal waves."

"What?!"

"Just shield me with something as I climb! I can't fly and there's no way you can carry me."

"Sky, this is insane. What if I make a rope and helped pull you up?"

"Absolutely not! Once that rope is created, you can't uncreate it in here and it has to stay in Roxy's mind. You'll only insert a foreign object into her head and she'll get confused. We have to obey Roxy's rules of logic."

"That's stupid! I thought laws of physics don't apply here."

"They do if Roxy wants them to. She knows nothing outside of what she considers normal except for us. Just watch for the tide, Bloom. I need to concentrate on climbing." Sky heaved himself up rock, trying to waste no time looking back on the receding shore. Thankfully, he was quicker than she had expected.

Bloom kept watch for the horizon, the water glistening in the moonlight. Her eyes widened as she realized the height of the wave.

"Sky, the water is coming!"

"I can hear it," he gritted as he heaved himself over a ledge, rested and looked up again.

The tidal surge was like a hum, like a roaring engine approaching, causing her Bloom's bones to quake in face of nature's might. She might have been the guardian of life-giving force of the universe but she was only mortal, knowing mortal fears and she was by magical nature weak against the element of water. Closer and closer, the water came rising higher. Higher than the height Sky was on the rock face and with enough force to maybe crush Sky.

She fluttered by Sky and screamed, "FLAME ARMOUR!"

Bloom could never imagine what if would feel like to get crushed by a boulder or ran over by a car. Now she knew. There was a deafening roar as she threw up the fiery shield and water engulfed the sphere of fire, sizzling. It took all of her might to stop herself from letting go of the shield and letting the water carry her and Sky into the ocean. Her shield sputtered as boiling water sprayed at her and Sky. The sphere of heat was like a sauna to Sky and the heat rolling off his fiancée was near fatal.

"Bloom, air!" Sky yelled weakly and began to heave. "Your fire!"

Bloom saw that the surface of water was a few feet above and grabbed onto Sky's belt. "Take a deep breath! I can't hold the barrier anymore!"

"What—?!" she heard Sky scream as flooded into the shield slowly like a fountain, boiling hot. The shield burst and Bloom held onto Sky as inky black bone-chilling cold water swallowed them and smashed them against the rock. The wind was knocked out of her and she pulled back onto Sky, smashing the back of her head with his. She saw stars and her wings felt like lead as she fluttered them in vain. She blacked out.

Woozy, Sky broke the surface of the water, gasping for air. Clinging to the rock, he looked about for Bloom. Insane! F-ing insane!

"Bloom?!" he mustered. He cursed repeatedly at the turn of events. Seeing no sign of her, he dove back into the black water blindly looking for her.

* * *

**Latter Note:** No, it's not over. Just one more chapter of dreamworld before we get to the real world. I really this threw thing through the shredder to get a decent and simple plot.

I feel like I'm writing an adult version of Alice in Wonderland. This required a fair amount of historical and mythological research. You can skip the following:

Velociraptors: Bloom's imagination running wild as she remembers Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park. That scene where the kids were trapped in the kitchen with the raptors gave me nightmares as a kid.

1346: That is two years before Europe is officially in the throes of the Black Death. One of the first places to get it was Sicily in 1347.

Nebula: Contrary to what was first believed, Nebula is not the woman with long brown hair and green dress in the opening and whom I originally planned to be the specter that had possessed Roxy. This does not change things though. Appeareances are deceiving. In the show's present, Nebula has chin-length voluminous blue black hair, almost like Stormy's but not quite. She is pale-skinned and wears dark colours. She is a character driven by revenge in the series. Very powerful and very dangerous. Probably as strong as or strongerthan the Trix since the Winx Club had a hard time fighting her. Her heart is in the right place though.

Steorra: Nebula's older brother; inserted by me. His name means 'star' in Old English.

Meadhbh: Queen of the Fae. Inserted by me. Anglicised spelling is 'Maeve.' Mythologically, Medb is a queen of Connacht of the Ulster Cycle of the Irish mythology. They are completely unrelated. I did not realise that there was a Queen Medb until I wrote this note (seriously, coincidence?). I only chose 'Meadhbh' because Shakespeare referred to Titania as Queen Mab in _A Midsummer's Night Dream_.

Bladen: Meadhbh's English husband. Inserted by me. From my understanding of the situation at the time, Ireland was in a real estate battle between the Normans and the English. It was totally feasible for an English to marry an Irish. For social norms, I have no idea what the reaction would be. His name means 'sword/knife/blade' in English.

Cóiced Ol nEchmacht: Name of Connacht at the time. It was a coincidence that the mythological Medb was queen of Connacht.

Éire: Name of Ireland by locals at the time, I think.

Morgana: Yes, she is a caretaker at the moment. FINALE SPOILERS: Let me make it clear that even though she becomes Queen of the Earth Fairies and is then succeeded by Nebula, Nebula still does not necessarily have the right to inherent her mother's place in the context of this story. Pre-Christian Irish (?) people believed that woman were equal to men, were allowed to do as they saw fit. By my context, this includes saying that their decedents did not get any rights to a throne. I don't see Irish mythological creatures running government by monarchy but rather elected leaders considering the mythos. Also, in the actual show, her powers are never given an actual name but I decided to make her the Fairy of Limning, aka to describe or to voice out. Minerva from FFVII comes to mind, I suppose.

Cipriano: *shifty eyes* I renamed a canon character for the sake of the plot. (Something I planned a long time ago.)

Mu Lan: Yes, _Mulan_. For anyone who does not know, the Disney movie is based off the fairy tale of _Ballad of Mulan_ where a woman joins the all-male army. I got the idea of dragon-riding warrior princess from the series _Temeraire_ by Naomi Novik. Bored out of my mind, I named her husband Shang.

Erebos: Erebus, part of the underworld from Greek mythos. Also the son of Chaos and represented the personification of darkness and shadow.

Magycks: Magix.

Tian: Chinese concept of 'heaven'—not the same Heaven as in 'kingdom come' in Abrahamic religions, e.g. Christianity, Judaism, Islam, etc. Depending, Tian can be seen as a supreme deity or a large realm like in Greek Mythology.

Roman Sea: Mediterranean Sea.

That concludes this chapter's history lesson.

Originally, there was only going to be a Queen of Fairies (Meadhbh) and a King of Shades (ex. demons, witches, vampires, etc.) but that strangely felt wrong for many, many reasons, i.e. how would that work in the first place?


	29. Chapter 29 News of Murder, Kasimir

**Verboten  
****Chapter 29**

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

**Disclaimer:** Yeah, I really don't own the Winx Club.

**Fore Note:** It's my birthday!

Also, I've decided to forgo accents in the dialogue almost entirely because I have no idea how real Irish, Norwegian, German, Italian, Chinese or Arabian accents sound like in English, let alone French which is ironic since I live in a predominantly French province. Occasionally, I'll slip in some non-English words to keep things interesting.

* * *

In the sky, there floated a crystalline white tower. It floated like a dagger in the sky, made of ice and bright as a diamond. It was full of impossible angles and spires at its base with one long spire rising from the mass to be the main tower where the throne was. Nordic fairies fluttered around their home like bees and a beehive. The floating fortress was called the Frost Tower, an ugly hulking mass of ice but beautiful somehow. The Frost Tower came from the north—far more north than almost any creature on the planet had ever ventured to travel. It was from a land completely covered in ice and snow all year around—something which was completely unimaginable for Meadhbh.

Meadhbh stood on a balcony that jutted out from the ice. Behind her in the throne room, sat Aurora, the Queen of Eternal Winter on her crystal throne, eyes glowing white as she directed her frozen hive over the Roman Sea towards the African ships. The ice fairy was a classic blond beauty with shocking blue eyes but with the body of woman frozen in time. She had chillingly blue lips and skin whiter than snow, as if she were a perfectly preserved walking corpse. Her wings were razor-sharp shards of ice, thin and deadly enough to cut.

Meadhbh was a woman with knee-length black hair, windswept as if she did not brush it often enough. Intricate beadwork was laced into her hair with hair wraps. She wore black scale-like leather lamellar armour gilded with silver and similar gauntlets over her green gown. Her wings were bright orange and black, shaped like golden autumn leaves sprouting from her back with menacing tiger-like stripes. On each wing were opal-coloured eyespots like those of a butterfly to terrify her opponents.

She flexed her wings, almost hoping for a battle to ensue. Battles were no different wherever she went, whether they were at home to settle clan wars and property disputes or out in the south where tension in nature was rising. She could feel that something was happening to the planet. It felt big and bad but subtle. Meadhbh shivered, whether it was from the ice fortress or her nervousness, she was not sure.

"Don't get excited, Meadhbh," Aurora said, her voice echoed across the chamber. "This is only a front to warn them that the council is not to be trifled with and I think an army of Chinese dragoons, shoals of man-eating merfolk and a fortress of solid ice flying over the sea does that very well. Only a precaution. There will be no fighting. Join me here, Meadhbh."

"No, I must be ready at all times in case something happens."

"You're exceptionally duller than I expected for someone from the south. You have obviously not had much joy."

"I live almost as north as you."

"You live south of me. Anything south of me is south."

"Where do you live?"

"I live where I am needed. I move with the seasons occasionally."

Meadhbh did not move from her vigil over the ice balcony. She watched as dragoons flew over the surface of the water, imitating the motion of the waves below. Steorra was leading an amount of fae to hurriedly construct wall fortifications around the town with the strongest geomancers available behind the Frost Tower. Her husband Bladen was mounted on his pegasus riding at the front with Shang and the other warriors.

Meadhbh had various feelings about the turn of events. In some corner of her mind, this entire mounting a defense seemed so out of proportion in terms of human strategy after seeing so many humans fight and lose their lives over the smallest of things.

Then again, she nor her family and other foreign Earth creatures were not human either. It had started with the one life-defining migration more than seven thousand years ago. The exact names, actions and motivations were lost in the sands of time but there had been a need to move and her ancestors had moved. It was too late to go back for no one knew how to get back.

Erebos, Magycks, Tian and numerous other otherworldly names had woven their way into history. Their culture had undoubtedly changed the course of human history. There was King Daimon and his shades that had essentially assimilated their beliefs into the human population through various myths across the world; the dragon-born transformed-human Mu Lan and Shang and their less intelligent cousin dragons whom they represented were the symbols of pride and honour in China; anthros that seemed to prefer existence among the other animals of the planet rather than the so-called vile disease 'civilised society' and fairies or fae as they were referred to in the isles, well, they were born where they were needed and were not exactly a unified society.

It was not so much as a question of lineage but rather a question of purpose and need. The idea of calculating the chances of being born a fairy was impossible as being fairy was a matter of predestination than good breeding. It had been long establish before the migration that fairies were only born or created out of need for they were the various voices of nature. Fate, it seemed, was still an inexplicable force in the workings of the universe. No one could predict it and no one could stop it. Fairies were only physical personifications of the faces of nature born to do what they had been created to do.

Every fairy had an affinity and with that came a responsibility or a task that one was expected to do. A fairy's affinity was often defined by his or her manifestation of powers and it also defined what their task was to an extent. At other times, powers were latent coming to a person because he or she was the only one worthy of the awesome task because of time or necessity. Sometimes, the affinity made direct contact or communicated with their fairy and at other times, it was up to the fairy to figure out their destiny.

Sadly, the fairies of Earth were just rediscovering this now through trial and error. If one succeeded in accomplishing your task, one was left alone by their affinity and left to do as their heart pleased at the price of being stripped of their powers since accomplished fairies no longer needed them. If one failed or refused one's task, one would immediately died becoming a shriveled husk and the task was given to another.

"Tell me, Meadhbh," Aurora started again. "How old do I look?"

The fae queen was irked by the question and turned to face Aurora from across the span of the throne room. What a totally vain question to ask! And of all times!

"Answer me, Meadhbh, please."

"Why do you care so much all of a sudden?"

"I'm curious to know. I own very little mirrors that are reflective enough or strong enough to accommodate my lifestyle—being apparently eternally cold as it is, I'm told."

"Can't you tell that you're cold?"

"Of course, but I have learned to pay very little attention to the cold in the years. Repetitivity dulls even the sharpest senses and all."

"Shouldn't you be dead than?"

"My affinity and purpose does not allow it."

"You've found your purpose?" Meadhbh, said startled.

"Centuries ago, Meadhbh. The preceding Fairy of the North had died on a hunting trip. He died admirably, normal and comfortably. I am his incumbent."

Meadhbh stared with wide eyes, a sudden new respect and appreciation for this hermit fairy.

"If you don't mind me asking," Meadhbh cleared her throat, "What is your purpose?"

"Will you tell me how old I look like?"

"Y-yes."

"Tell me first."

Meadhbh stuttered, "You look, well, twenty or younger about. Young enough to marry my son, I suppose."

Aurora closed her glowing eyes and sighed in pleasure. The sigh seemed to reach across in a vapour mist and push a cold breeze across the throne and out the balcony.

"Thank you. I've seen your son. Very handsome man."

Meadhbh regarded the strange fairy and went back to her vigil. She felt strangely happy.

"Don't you want to hear about my purpose?"

"No."

Friendship blooms in the strangest ways.

-

The next time Bloom woke up, she felt as if someone had repeatedly thrown a boulder at her chest repeatedly and there was a small crackling fire just beside her. It felt heavenly. She saw light of the fire make jagged shadows on the ceiling—cave.

"S-sky?" she croaked. Breathing was problematic.

She shifted her eyes across the chamber. Cold air licked at her legs, meaning that the entrance was at her feet.

"Sky?"

She faded in and out of the darkness, gradually seeing the fire die down. She was incoherent, barely able to form simple thoughts. She barely remembered where and why she was in that cave. She even seemed to have even forgotten Sky.

Bloom was jolted awake as a something big, heavy and hollow sounding dropped onto the floor.

She found herself on her side. "Sky!" she said in relief.

Sky had dropped a pile of wood on the cave floor. He did not respond as he sat on the floor, stoking the fire with a long branch. He looked exhausted. His hair was tangled and brushed by hand, he had removed his jacket to show the white t-shirt underneath and had buckled his sword over his shoulder. His jacket was spread over a rock drying.

"I found a town on the other side of the hill. It's a port, I think. It's archaic with no technology like on Earth. I tried to talk to them but there is no recognition at all. They just walk by me like I'm a ghost. I think it's safe to say, it's not one of Roxy's memory. It reeks of someone else's consciousness all over the town and I think that's why Roxy is subjecting herself to amnesia.

I watched for a bit. They were coming from all around the world but the strangest was that they were all magical. Fairies, witches, demons, vamps and everything. I thought that there weren't any magical creatures on Earth, Bloom. The strangest part was that they were mounting a defense with dragons and a floating ice castle from a couple of boats from Africa."

Bloom tried to talk but found herself coughing painfully like something furry was in her mouth. Her throat felt congested with mucus. Sky was at her side in an instant.

"Spit it out, Bloom. Don't swallow it, don't talk." He turned her over so that she was facing the ground.

She spat feeling embarrassed at the display. She felt less congested. "Th-thanks." Sky sat her up against the cave wall. "Faragonda said that there used to be magic on Earth but they had all disappeared when the Fairy Hunters came."

"I know but that's logistically impossible because how could the rest of the humans not notice such a large mass murder of that many people? A dead body is still a dead body, magic or not. You need to see this town, Bloom. You know Earth better than me but in the morning."

-

The next morning, Steorra walked across the battlements looking for weaknesses in the walls. He ignored the sentries overlooking the harbour where the Africans had anchored their ship. They had been allowed to anchor their ships but were not allowed to enter the village. It was a new day but news had spread quickly throughout the settlement about last night. Lady Mu Lan had met an African chief who seemed to be leading the boats and struck a quick deal with him. They were apparently responding to the same natural call to Sicillia.

Steorra, unable to repress his curiosity, examined the three foreign ships. He could see the crew coming up from below the deck going through a morning routine. Several women walked down a plank onto the docks and Steorra narrowed his eyes at sight.

Muslim. One of them at least. The others peasant and noble fairies and shades. The Muslim girl wore grayish black abaya and headscarf. It seemed that there were also Spanish from Gibraltar onboard the ships. He shrugged it off and continued his inspection of the wall.

-

Nebula sat before the fire, wrapped in a shawl. The town was in an unbearable frenzy. The inn was steadily filling up with all sorts of people. Some of them familiar and some of them completely strange. A rancorous laugh rang through the inn as several more men and women entered. Nebula turned.

"Mirela!"

The Rom had arrived and had responded to the call. One particular girl stood out from the others. She had shining black hair, extremely dark skin and angled blue eyes. She wore a fitting bright red gown with a worn leather belt.

"Nebula! You're here!" Mirela said. The

"And you, too! When did you get here? Where were you before?"

"We got here last night although we had to sleep in the ships. We had boarded the ships at Gibraltar. That nasty Chinese lady of yours wouldn't budge on letting even the Rom in even though she knew us."

"Are you going to set up camp near the village?"

"Near the big tent just outside. Where is your family?"

"They're all busy. Mama is part of the council so Papa is acting as her escort and Steorra is patrolling the walls."

Mirela nodded at the news and hooked one of her arms around Nebula's. "Come join us, we're all hungry for something warm. You know my sisters Viola and Gitana, my older brother Rafa. This is my little cousin Antonio," Mirela pointed to a little boy held in one of her sister's arms. "And this is Ayesha."

Ayesha had been hidden behind Mirela's sisters and Nebula realized how different she was from the others: she wore a black headscarf that showed only her face and dark dress that covered everything except for her hands. Ayesha had nice golden eyes and the roundness and femininity of her face was especially punctuated by her headscarf.

"Hello, my name is Nebula."

Ayesha looked away, flushed. "_Marhaba_, my…English is bad," she said in a deep low voice.

Nebula gave a concerned look to Mirela. "Who is she?"

"I'll tell you while we are eating."

They gathered around a table, sharing a couple of roasted chickens and drinks. Nebula kept a particular eye on Ayesha simply because of how different she was. Ayesha kept to herself in the conversation.

"We found her in March after coming upon a burning mosque in a town that had been destroyed by the Church." Mirela looked carefully to Ayesha. "Everyone was dead but she was hidden in an orchard. Rafa had found her while collecting some fruit. She doesn't speak a lot because she's a little scared."

"So, is she, um, human?"

"No magic at all."

"But doesn't she, you know, cause problems?"

Mirela tilted her dark head. "She's taking our magic very well if that's what you mean but the dragons last night was a little overwhelming, mind you. She's seen almost everything from what she considers angels to demons with us. She just doesn't speak English that well. She's nice, you'll like her, Nebula."

-

The war council had reconvened early in the morning after last night's events. The scare tactic had been effective but was totally unnecessary in the end. The tent was really a borrowed circus tent as there was no building large enough to house the council. Mu Lan sat on a dais with her minute taker, a Greek shade with unbeatable memory on her right and a French mindreader to judge on her left.

"My name is Chikere." Chikere had been the go-to leader of the African boats despite knowing nothing about sailing. Everyone had gone to him when Mu Lan had arrived on her dragon. Chikere was a young black man, barely pass twenty with a shaved head. He wore patterned robes that gave off an appearance of simplicity.

Everyone listened carefully, sitting on the edge of their seats in the stands.

"There are fairies suddenly appearing everywhere overpossessed by something."

"_Over_ possessed?" Mu Lan repeated.

"Yes, they have this unstoppable urge to murder people at random—"

"What makes you think they're fairies?!" A fairy stood up and screamed offended.

"Be quiet!" Mu Lan fixed the fairy a stare and nodded for Chikere to continue. "Ignore them. Why do you think they're fairies?"

"They have wings just like all fairies."

"And they are murdering people at random?"

"It looks random but they seem to have specific targets. They plan, they observe and then go in for the kill like hunters. Some people who were never fairies would suddenly grow wings and they would strangle the person next to them. Some times, it would be more than one person targeting the same person. I don't understand but it's not mass murder. It's planned and there's a pattern. I drew out on a map and it seemed to be making a trail up and down the coast."

"What about the people being murdered? Are they connected?"

"Sometimes. Some are human and some are magical like us but those are only the ones who reside in communities. Some of them are powerful and some are not. I don't understand it myself."

"And you say that it's fairies?"

"I saw one transform with my own eyes."

Mu Lan narrowed her eyes as if seizing on something delicious. "Describe the transformation. Is it forced?"

"He just suddenly started to shake so violently. He fell to the ground and he said that his head hurt. I thought he was going to die. He was screaming and asking me to kill him and then suddenly, his back ripped open like it was cut open with a knife and wings came out." The young man paled, as if he had seen the Devil.

"And then he got up, looked at me and ran into the forest. I don't know what happened after that. I tried to run after him but he flew into the trees. I had heard of the usual human story of incubus visiting them in the night or vampires feeding but I knew truth behind that. Just shades feeding but I had also starting hearing that some fairies were starting to get murderous tendencies. I thought that those were fairies adopted by the shades because it's happened before but these fairies, they don't feed at all, they kill only."

"And the one that you saw?"

"He killed the clan chief a-a few days later. I captured him and brought him but he doesn't have any wings anymore—like he's completed his purpose by killing th-that p-person."

"Was this person, the one who was murdered, someone special to you, Chikere?"

"My father; I am chief of my clan now."

"And the man who murdered your father?"

"My friend."

"May I speak to your friend in private later?"

"Y-yes."

"You've spoken enough, Chikere. Go and rest," Mu Lan said gently.

Chikere saw himself out and the tent erupted into whispers as soon as the man was gone.

-

"Are you going to tell me what happened last night?" Bloom wheezed. Her throat still felt congested and her breathing was heavy.

She had Sky's sword buckled over her shoulder while Sky carried her on his back. When she had awoken, it was full day already and the fire had died. They had left the cave as soon as possible. Thankfully, there was a dirt road to the town.

"What about last night?" he said in a detached voice.

"What happened?"

"You almost drowned. You were clinically dead until I started giving you CPR. Your chest hurts right? Like something's stepped on you? That was me. A whole bunch of technicalities are involved and I really don't want to talk about it."

Bloom took a moment to take it in. "That's it?"

"Do you want me to get angry, Bloom?" he challenged, "If you want anger, I can tell you that I'm inwardly seething but I have bigger things to worry about. Bloom, you have to remember that if you die in this world, you die for real." He tossed her up on his back for better grip and continued walking. "The town is just around the bend."

Bloom kept quiet taking in everything she saw. She was confused but she thought better than to reply. Fighting when they were both angry got them nowhere so instead, she focused on the scenery. There was evidently smoke in the air but the hills kept obscuring her view. A stretch of stone wall three stories high came into view with an ornate iron portcullis. A walled city? Bloom could see sentries at the top of the battlement and she reflexively became cautious. She was confused when she realized that they never saw her or Sky.

Sky approached the wall. "Do you notice something, Bloom?"

"About what?" she said weakly.

"The wall."

"What about it?"

"It's too perfect to be made by hand. All the rocks are perfectly cut and smooth for the technology available and the mortar is of ridiculously good quality by just looking at the colour. Look at the size of this wall. It would take years to complete this. Even my castle is not that good."

"And that means?"

"Have you ever explored a castle?"

"I never get the time to, Sky."

"Never mind, what it means is that this was built by magic all in one night."

"Is it important?"

"It usually means that something bad is going to happen. Maybe a war or a battle, Bloom. It's a basic defensive tactic if you've got wizards handy but even a wall like this would either need a dozen wizards or an earth paladin."

Bloom tensed up at the idea. Sky walked into the walled city through the portcullis and let Bloom take it in for a moment. She gasped and tightened her arms around his neck to get a better view over his head.

"Sky, this has to be the Middle Ages!"

Bloom was stilled by the entire idea. Such opportunities did not come everyday and getting to see even a glimpse of the Middle Ages was overwhelming. Had she traveled back in time? Wait, what was the middle ages doing in Roxy's mind?

"Okay, so what does 'Middle Ages' mean then? Is it a date? I just know that this isn't the Earth I know," Sky said blissfully unaware.

Suddenly, both the inner and outer gates slid shut behind them with noisy crashes, almost making Sky drop Bloom. Sky got out of the way as several men descended from the battlements and looked into the portcullis corridor. They had trapped a horse and rider in there.

"_Cavaliere!_ A knight! Get the captain!" One of the guards yelled.

A dozen more guards came at a run. Sky and Bloom ducked into an alley and saw archers take positions at the top of surrounding roofs.

"Any idea what's going on?" Sky said to Bloom as he let her off his back.

Bloom gave Sky a quick rundown of 'Middle Ages.' "Well, if this is a town full of magical creatures then a knight of the Church is not welcome here. The Bible says that they're not allowed to exist basically. Witches were burned at the stake and there were the Inquisitions...I guess it's normal to be a little jumpy. Magical creatures were like outcasts on Earth."

"Savages. Watch, this might be important," Sky said drily and watched with his eyes darting from speaker to speaker.

The guards had formed an offensive semicircle with spears and swords pointing at the gates waiting for more orders. A brightly dressed and highly decorated warrior broke the circle. The man stood taller than the rest wearing red scale-like armour with his helmet tucked under his arm. The man's armour was completely different from all the other guards, like a big contrast of cultures. He had sleek black hair combed back into ponytail and angled eyes.

Bloom belatedly realise that the man was Chinese in a dominantly European town acting like he owned the place. That screamed totally wrong for the Middle Ages.

"Open the gate!" he ordered.

The name 'Shang' popped into her mind and she tightly grasped Sky's arm.

"Calm down, it's a bleeding effect of memories. Information will just suddenly pop into your mind as it progresses. It's like you're watching a movie with subtitles."

The creaking of chains from some unknown place signaled the opening of the iron gates. A man in knightly armour stepped out of the impromptu cage leading his white gray charger. The man wore a large shabby cloak over his armour and chainmail. He had a shock of unruly blond hair and pale skin. On the top of the horse's packs was a white shield with a black cross.

"My name is Kasimir Abendroth," the knight said in English. He had a thick accent leftover from his German.

"And what business do you have here, Kasimir?" Shang said in English.

"I heard the call."

"I see."

"You don't believe me?"

"That's exactly the problem. A knight, wearing the colours of the Teutonic Order on his shield, in a village full of magical beings doesn't bode well." Shang raised a hand at the surrounding guards, "Thus the treatment."

"I'm much older than you think. It's only a lifestyle," the knight assured, "I'm sure that there are priests in the village too living the same way as I am."

"I don't care about your age. I want to know what are you. Do you have magic or not and are you born of this world? I don't see any glamours hanging over you so you're obviously either human or fairy. The question is what can you do?"

"My magic is based on sound. I can manipulate it to make quakes or send messages that only dogs can hear."

"A proof would do," Shang said impatiently.

Kasimir looked about unsure. "It's very destructive. I don't want to hurt people."

"Then destroy this, please." Shang raised an arm and the earth shook as a pillar of solid stone grew out of the ground.

Kasimir looked uneasily at the crowd around him and his charger blew out a large breathe. The knight stepped forward and clapped his hands down vertically towards the pillar. There was a large boom as the pillar of stone exploded and sent the surrounding guards running.

Shang nodded at the display of physically impossible skills. "That will do, Kasimir. Thank you. I'm sorry for this treatment but as you know..." Shang left it hanging and gestured for the knight to follow him. The Chinese man shouted more orders and the piazza emptied as people returned to their business.

Kasimir grabbed his horse's reins and led him. Sky and Bloom watched as Shang and Kasimir passed by the alley they had holed themselves in. Bloom took note of the men's faces, completely awed by their appearance in such a place. Then her gaze fell onto Kasimir and instant recognition hit her.

"Liar!" Bloom screamed, "That's Gauntlos, Sky!"

* * *

**Latter Note:** It's days like this when I think I have a really wild imagination.

Meadhbh: Isn't she cute? Actually, her description scares the crap out of me. I would be terrified if I ever met her in the flesh with those wings.  
Aurora: Isn't she adorable? Wisdom beyond her age comes to mind. I like her because she's extremely loyal in face of adversity in the show.  
Fairy...hood?: I always thought that being a fairy was a question of destiny rather than lineage because it seemed weird to have fairies of music all the way to fairies of sun, stars and moons. The diversity and distribution of powers seemed extremely unfair if we assumed that fairies were all genetically of the same race. Darwinian theory, anyone?  
Rom: In layman terms: gypsies. They're usually of Indian-ish descent?  
Chikere: Um, I'm reading Anne Rice right now if that means anything to you. Originally, he was supposed to be Anagan but I scrapped the idea because it really sucked.  
Kasimir: Gantlos or Gauntlos? I prefer the latter for some reason... And yes, he is a fictional knight of a non-fictional order called the German/Teutonic Order who "aid Catholics on their pilgrimages to the Holy Land and to establish hospitals to care for the sick and injured" (Wikipedia).  
Shang: You can like him or hate him but he is very straightforward.


	30. Chapter 30 The Truth of Murder

**Verboten  
****Chapter 30**

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Winx Club. I do not profit from it.

* * *

"Bloom, calm down! I can see that it's Gauntlos but there's no point in getting angry at something that has already happened!" Sky grabbed Bloom by the waist before she went running after the memory.

"But what the hell is he doing here?! He shouldn't be here!" she screamed hoarsely.

"I don't know but if you don't calm down, we're just going to waste time. Roxy is our first priority! We can look at memories later and see how we can conserve them for later investigation."

"But—"

"Bloom, we're still inside Roxy who apparently wants to forget because these are obviously not her memories."

"Then what should we do?" Bloom leaned herself against the alley wall. Her eyes felt heavy like she wanted to sleep. It was all becoming too much. "And what about Asta?"

"She should be doing her job trying to find Roxy, too. Hey, hey, keep your eyes open, Bloom." Sky snapped his fingers in front of her. "You can't sleep here."

"I'm tired."

"Well, screaming like that drained you. Com'on, get on my back. I'm going to follow them since they are the center of the memory."

Bloom reluctantly hopped on to his back. Sky followed Shang and Kasimir intently.

What was she supposed to feel? The only thing that came to mind was absolute horror. What was he doing in Roxy's mind? Where had these memories come from? The White Circle.

Yes, that must have been it.

That screaming people, fire, medieval hell.

Ceasarina.

_No, get the hell back._ Bloom shoved the memory to the back of her mind, with behemoth ferocity.

"Bloom, we know that the Black Circle is immune to fairy magic."

"Yeah."

"They can convert your magic and use it against you."

"Yeah."

"Ever thought of sending a real witch up against them instead? Surely, that would surprise them."

"What—like Nabu?" she said incredulously as if she were being fired from her job. His suggestion jarred her as it changed the entire dynamics of their battle and destroying the comfortable environment of it all. Thinking back, has she ever seen a witch-on-witch fight? What would it look like? Oh, that sounded dangerous as a nuclear explosion.

"Yeah, and maybe some of my own…"

"Asta, too?"

"Well, there are more people than her but…are you offended by the idea?"

"Honestly, what is her problem, Sky? Why is she so mean to me?"

"Don't think it's natural enmity because you're a fairy and she's a witch. She doesn't hate you for that."

"Then why?"

"Not to brag or anything but Asta would have made a really good actress if she had went that way."

"Sky, she's like fifteen still!"

"She's pretty good-looking for someone who's twenty-one. Anyways, she wanted to go into the police force at home but first she needed extensive studying at a better school. She went to University of Magix to get a degree in applied sciences on military scholarship. Back then, she wasn't a citizen of Eraklyon."

"Where's she from?"

"I'm not allowed to disclose that out of migration policies. She transferred over to Eraklyon midway through your last year at Alfea when the Valtor conflict was rising to a dangerous peak—just after Valtor tricked the Faragonda, Griffin and Saladin into fighting each other."

"But what about school? How did she transfer to Eraklyon?"

"She dropped out—"

"What the hell, Sky?!" Oh, this Asta character was getting trickier and trickier. Was she freeloading off of Sky now?

"Just listen for a moment. Brandon and I had to personally go and pick her up from her apartment because the city was so crazy after the fight. It was so insane, Bloom. The day after, I get this phone call from her saying that she needs to get out of the city because some apartments caught on fire the night before and there are assholes standing in her apartment lobby harassing her and the neighbours. The place was like a bloody massacre waiting to happen. I know that we live outside of the city and therefore outside of city jurisdiction but I was really scared that she was going to get killed or that she was going to kill them herself."

"She's not that tough, Sky."

"Yes, she is, Bloom. Take the image of a cold-hearted calculative killer out of your mind. If people have to kill to survive, so be it. She's not afraid of killing, she's afraid of _why_ she kills. She wants to kill for the right reasons."

Bloom raised her head, jarred by the idea. "Murder can't be justified."

"Bloom, sorry to burst your bubble, but it can in Magix. There expression is 'It's not the knife that kills but the hand who holds it.'"

The fire fairy's heart chilled at the idea. "So what happened after she called you?"

"We went to her place and got her but it just got worst. We found out that her neighbours had kids and we go 'Shit, we can't leave them.' She lived in a low-cost apartment with newer families. One of those really cheap crappy apartments that was just waiting to crumble." Bloom could hear Sky's voice rise dangerously. "Literally, it was in the witch ghettoes. It was a piece of crap that had been demolished last year to clear the land for newer construction. Riot police did shit until the third day when a lot of people were playing hooky in the witch district and the place had to be gassed," Sky gritted out.

Bloom was almost afraid to ask. "How come I never knew this?"

"Did you watch news often at Alfea?"

"No, there's like no TVs and I can't understand some of it."

"It was on local news only and being covered up anyways. We had to get in from the back of the building and pack Asta and some of the neighbours in the car. The only safe place I could put them was the Eraklyon embassy so that's where I put them. After that, Asta was like comatose for a week, like she was shock with pale skin and lots of fidgeting. It took a long time, Bloom, until she got out of it and even then, I don't think she's let go of it. I was horrified by what I saw in the complex. The people were nuts just because she was a witch.

"After that, we had to bring her to back her place. A few days later, she calls me saying that she wants a transfer to Eraklyon and that she's quit school because there are people stalking her."

"Couldn't she have done something? Like fight back?"

"And then get arrested, deported and court-martialed at home? She had less freedom than Brandon and Brandon was my paid stalker. Sure, we screwed up a little bit when we didn't tell you strongly enough to not come on the Day of the Royals but it was all out of our hands when security decided to take a break and watch the show in the stadium when they should been doing their jobs look for you girls in the school."

"What are you saying? Are you mad about that still?" Bloom said indignantly.

"Well, of course. For all I knew, you could have been a hitman trying to get close to me. You were a girl who came out of nowhere from some planet with barely any magic and you decide to by chance date the undercover prince of Eraklyon. Maybe Yoshinoya could have figured all the lies out and he had sent you to take me out."

"But I'm not any of that."

"We didn't know that."

A heavy cloud of suspicion hung in the air.

"And Asta, what about her?"

"She told me she wanted a clean slate when she transferred over and I gave it to her. She has no higher education than military high school and she's a second lieutenant in the air force."

"And people were harassing her because she was a witch in the city? Did she ever finish her degree?"

"She's never been given the opportunity yet. I know that she kinda wants to finish it but she doesn't want to go back to all of that."

"Is that all?"

"Of course it isn't but I'm not legally allowed to disclose more than that. You can't ask the rest from her or Helia."

"Helia?"

"Y'know…Flora's boyfriend."

"What does he have to do with anything?"

"I'm surprised you don't know this. I thought Stella might have tortured that out of him at some point. Helia was in the year above me and he dated her at school." Sky stopped for a moment and toss Bloom up his back to get a better hold. He looked up to Kasimir and Shang who were walking up a steep hill towards a cathedral.

Above them the clouds started to grey noticeably, signs that a wet winter was coming.

-

It had only been twenty minutes.

"The little freakin'—!" Artos shouted, "Are you going to die or not?! Pick already!" He was not quite sure who he was yelling at but the four unconscious bodies haphazardly laying about at the end of the MIR were driving him nuts as there heart-rates varied between clinically dead and comatose.

There was Roxy who was almost angelic in her sleep on her gurney. Her hair was slightly mussed and oily from the lack of a shower but that was normal. Then there was Asta who sat on a chair, lax like her body had been a puppet and all her strings were cut. She had one hand on Bloom, who sat on a chair beside her and another on Roxy's exposed arm. Sky sat on the other side of the Earth fairy's bed as if he were in deep contemplation with one hand on Asta's wrist. All of them were connected to heart monitors ever since Bloom and Sky had decided to go into a seizure-like fit with realistic varying heartbeats.

For almost a moment, someone had gone flatline and triggered the code blue alarm. The little man scrutinized all four them. Someone was going to get a crick in their neck if they stayed like that, he thought. Artos turned to be face with the Winx Club at the door of his MIR.

"And?" Stella said.

"They're not dead. Can you maybe clear out of here? Do something useful like make lunch?"

"Excuse me?!"

Chandra stepped out of her office frustrated. She wore a white coat. "Okay, this is getting ridiculous. You're getting in the way. Get out of here. Go do something useful like train or fix your shop or something."

"Our shop is closing because of you," Musa muttered.

Chandra ran her hands into her short hair and tossed her head back. She enunciated her words carefully, rising with every syllable. "I. Said. '_Get out!_'"

Angry, the Winx Club dispersed back into the main part of the warehouse. There was nothing to do but wait it out. The Frutti Music Bar had closed temporarily and Klaus was in the MIR with Chandra discussing. Helia was conscious but he was resting in the MIR with some other fairy that had been under the same conditions as him. Brandon and Riven were also pretty much knocked out by painkillers and sleeping off their burns. Timmy and Nabu were the only ones perfectly healthy as one could be but they were busy as well.

The warehouse was full of restlessness. All of Sky's people were crowded in the warehouse waiting for something to happen. Love&Pet had finally closed its doors and the building was under the ownership of the King of Eraklyon. The girls had nothing to do but seethe about the turn of events.

The girls gathered around a collapsible steel table sad.

"What are we going to do?" Flora said. She had been effectively kicked out of the MIR, too, because it was not hospital with visiting hours.

Stella folded her arms beneath her head like a pillow. "I honestly don't know."

"And what about Roxy?" Musa said, twirling a strand of hair in her hand. "We can't just leave her here. Our mission is still to protect her and bring magic to Earth."

"But we still have lives to get on to. I can't stay here forever." Layla sat with her attention somewhere else.

"There is no doubt in my mind that we have other things to do but we have to keep Roxy in mind. We can't abandon her like this. Who knows what Sky and his people will choose. Roxy may be old enough to make her own decisions but as a fairy, she's only a baby discovering her wings. I don't know about you but we have to teach her everything we know so that she can defend herself as a fairy."

Musa nodded somberly. "She's right. Being a fairy isn't something genetic that you can learn all straight from a book. We're fairies because our affinities need us but…" She swallowed, as if unsure how to word her thoughts. "But it's so hard to know what we were born to do. I'm the fairy of music but what does music need me to do? I don't understand what I am supposed to do. I'm just going with the motions."

"What does the Great Book of Fairies say?" Stella asked.

"It said that affinities are like our own personal gods but we know that. The book won't go any farther than the believix chapters even when there are five hundred more pages."

"But they're blank and sometimes, in some pages, some sentences are deliberately gone."

The girls sighed dejectedly.

"What's Roxy's affinity?" Layla said. Her attention was really somewhere else.

The girls stared at each other's blank faces and thought seriously about the question.

"A-artu?" Stella said.

"The pets?"

"Animals?"

"Having a lot of pets does not mean that she's the fairy of animals or Earth creatures or whatever," Tecna reasoned. "Look at Bloom, she has Kiko."

Musa snickered lightly. "Can you imagine her the fairy of bunnies?" she quipped.

A demented image of Bloom wearing a powdery blue bunny getup complete with bunny ears and wiry fairy wings hung in their heads.

"No, but seriously, what is Roxy's affinity?" Tecna asked again.

"I'm sure in time that she'll figure it out on her own," Flora said. "We can't force her."

"She needs to hurry still. The quicker, the better. I don't wanna put pressure on her, but y'know time is of the essence," Musa said. The music fairy reflected for a moment. "Wow, that was something Tune would say… I wonder how are the pixies."

"I'm sure Chatta would have come up with some cheer to cheer us up by now. Look at the bright side of things," Flora said. There was a restless tone in her voice. She would have preferred to be sitting beside Helia but Chandra or Artos would not allow it. "I'm sorry. I can't just sit down while all of this is happening. I-I need to do something. Maybe I'll go help in the kitchen or something." The flower fairy stood up and walked away in the direction of the kitchen.

"Maybe I'll go with her too." Musa said. "What about you, guys?"

Layla tapped her foot, slightly stressed. "I'm going to see if I can get a try in the reality chamber." The sea princess stood up and walked pass the computer to the yellow dome.

"I'll go with you, too," Tecna said. Stella followed her as Musa went into the kitchen area.

-

Aurora sat solemnly on her ice throne, gazing into a reflective sheet of ice shiny as a mirror to her left. The mirror seemed fragile, as if it would break with a single touch. In it, she saw Mu Lan's interview of the chief Chikere. She was extremely troubled just as everyone was. The man was more than just troubled, he was broken. The damage was done and most likely irreversible. The supreme consciousnesses of the universe were at work on Earth.

She turned away from the mirror, waving her hand and letting the mirror melt into a puddle on the floor to freeze instantly.

It was more than coincidence that every decided to hope a boat or take wing all the way to Sicillia, all at the same time. It was not a planned congregation. Something, or some divine power that had long since left them, was subconsciously telling them to meet.

And that terrified her.

She, Aurora of the Eternal Winter, was terrified of this sudden appearance of the intuitive hive mind that had seemed to affect everyone who had otherworldly heritage. Born at the beginning of the first millennium, she had learned quickly to look at everything with an eagle's eye. She had learnt not to count for how many years she lived but for how old she looked like. She had observed the cycle of life, observed birth and death with the same indifference she used to hunt boar and moose, to birth reindeer and train hawks. She watched the life drain out of her prey's eyes with indifference, their eyes dilating and limbs thrashing; she broke the wills of animals and even people, subjecting them to hers.

She had watched the rise, division and fall of the Roman Empire; she had read the first copies of the gospels alleging the life of Jesus in the fourth century; she was the watchful spirit of Leif Erikson as he crossed the ocean to discover the inhospitable Helluland and she had witness the first of many autos-da-fé in Paris of 1249. She had watched as the Church organized itself over the centuries and branded her people as the demons of the Devil or the angels of God.

Her senses had been dulled after she had seen everything life had to offer. Battered on the inside by atrocities, her spirit was ready die unlike her immortal body. She had seldom taken to companionship for fear of growing too attached and watching the man die when she could not. She never risked children scared that she would outlive them and have to bury them herself.

However, if she could live through the fury of the Church and its systematic witch hunt unscathed and she could do it again. What worried her was that she had no idea who or what the enemy was except for the few suddenly entranced fairies. It was magical and it warranted the divine attention of whatever divinities chose her to be a fairy.

The ice fairy stood up and flexed her arms and wings, sore from sitting for such a long time. She crossed the chamber to the ice balcony where she got a rare view of under water. The Frost Tower had been submerged into the sea and a bubble had been conjured around the balcony. A dozen colourful mermen and mermaids stared back with abandoned curiosity, unable to resist seeing such a rare sight. (Well, a piece of ice was probably just as rare to them as seeing the majesty of a blinding white iceberg, let alone a habitable piece of ice.)

There was one merman whose colours dazzled her. He was a lionfish merman with an orange body and white stripes and dozens of venomous spines protruding from his waist, dorsal fin and arms.

She waved at them and they all either swam away or continued to stare.

Meadhbh fluttered down from one of the numerous tunnels that led outside. "The meeting is over, Aurora. Mu Lan wants you to come with her to meet Ekene."

Aurora turned. "Ekene?"

"The man who killed Chikere's father."

"What does she want me for?"

"Well, she thinks that some of the more experienced members should meet him, seeing as you're, um, older. You're more experienced with dealing with emotion, I suppose. Mu Lan may be great but I think that she thinks that her animal instincts might get the best of her. She said she is still a dragon in her mind. That Parisian mindreader with that all-seeing eye of hers is going too."

"The red one with the wedjat painted on her left eye?" The ice fairy remembered seeing a redhead sitting beside Mu Lan in her mirror. The strange thing about her was that she had her left eye painted like the Egyptian Eye of Horus.

"I don't think it's makeup," the fae queen said.

Aurora was led to a room, furnished with a table, chairs and ragged bed in the corner with thin sheets. Something to be expected from a simple peasant's room. It was devoid of colour but it was in the details that she could see a sense of opulence or wealth. The table had carved details and despite the dust, a nice finish; the two chairs had very simple and plain cushions on the seat and the bed's headboard had intricate patterns carved onto it. There was a musty smell that pervaded meaning that the room had not been used often until recently.

In the corner sat a bundle of a man wrapped in a grey blanket. His position reminded her of a child or a man who did not want to die. She could see the outline of a head but his face was covered with the blanket.

Aurora closed the door behind her. She had taken off her fur cloak a long time ago, as it was inappropriate for the climate. She had been given a precious light blue gown threaded with silver by some Rom girl accompanied with a Muslim woman at the behest of Meadhbh. They had also applied some makeup on her to give some colour to her otherwise colourless face. "Ekene."

The bundle stiffened.

"Let me see your face, Ekene."

The man's voice was strained but had once been beautiful enough for singing. "Are you here to kill me?"

"Don't be absurd, Ekene," Aurora pulled a chair, brushed off the dust and sat. "You are far more valuable than you think you are."

Ekene keep silent.

"Would you like to know why, Ekene? Why you are so valuable? Far more important than your friend Chikere who brought news of the…massacres…in Africa, some of which we had no knowledge of; far more important than the dragon-born Lady Mu Lan who commands us all with objectiveness of a wolf protecting her pack; far more important than any king or queen, human or otherwise, holdings small or significant? Ekene, you are more important than the King of England!"

"I'm not stupid!" Ekene exploded from his corner like a wraith revealing itself, throwing the blanket at his feet. "YOUR OWN FRIEND'S FATHER IS NOT A GLORIOUS THING!"

Ekene was a surprisingly well-dressed man, although his clothes were tattered and stained with dirt and blood. He wore a once fine but now torn linen shirt over a vest and brown pants. He was bald with hallowed cheeks and haunted eyes. By smell alone, he had not bathed in a long time.

Aurora remained unmoved by the sudden emotion. "It is not in the fact that you killed someone is what makes you important. You did something much deeper, as a fairy, you've _completed_ your purpose—something that every fairy dreams of."

"No, I'm not a monster like you, you despicable thing!" He pointed an angry finger at her, reviled at the idea. "You things think you're better than us humans because you have magic and wings and can see things that we cannot see! You have all the powers to kill us off so you can live happily without the trouble of petty humans but instead you just watch us and let us squirm, waiting for the day you rise up and turn us into your own pets and slaves, to be our gods! You call yourselves part of nature when you work in everyway against it. You bring back the dead with your black magic; you heal wounds that would have otherwise killed men with a touch; you invoke even the elements themselves and claim to be wrath of nature incarnate! You are against the very essence of life, you monsters!!! You are God's outcast creations, his unwelcomed creatures in the Eden!!! You all belong in hell!!!"

"You're educated, very educated," Aurora said after a long time. "And most likely with some Catholic teachings, too. Rare." Cool as ever, she ignored the insults. Anger was a natural thing. There was no arguing what Ekene saw as the truth. She would not force impose what she saw as the truth on him, not after what she had seen in humanity. "Am I to assume that you are human, no magic? That you didn't even realize that your friend was one of these monsters? Chikere, a sorcerer and his father, too? Or did you think they were simple pagan practitioners, shamans and witch doctors?

"Do you even know what it means to be '_human_?'"

Ekene was surprised by her calmness. He had expected her to react to his powerful accusations, maybe use magic on him in some way that would end his life in an instant. Now he was truly afraid. Unfortunately in the corner of the room, he felt trapped. He looked at the door cautiously.

Aurora stood up and stared Ekene down with chilling blue eyes. She stepped up to him and stood so close that he could feel the winter's chill on her breath and fallaciousness of her makeup that attempted to hide her unnatural whiteness.

"I am human. I was born in the year 29. That is one thousand, three hundred and seventeen years ago. I was born in an inn, late spring, months and days unknown but in the morning like the goddess Aurora, outside of the kingdom of _Norðweg_," she said in a harsh but true accent. "My father was _Aulus Hortensius Paterculus_," her accent had changed instantaneously, "a Roman soldier and human. His legion was _Legio quarta __Macedonica_ in _castum Moguntiacum_—that is Mainz, Germany now. My mother was _Sigurfinna Biorndottir_, a smith's second daughter from _Norðweg_ in what is now the Kingdom of Agder. Human too."

Ekene backed away, terrified. She spoke with unheard of accents, dead accents, dead tongues. Something in his gut told him that she was not making up those words on the spot, they were real words. Her words made him shiver. This woman had been born in the lifetime of Jesus Christ!

"Take a seat, Ekene." Aurora said gently, softly but with all the ferocity of a lioness. A chair suddenly appeared and hit the back of his knees. He fell into the seat. The ice fairy opened a hand behind her and then a second chair came sliding across the floor, the back of it hitting her palm. Dust flew and settled. Annoyed, Aurora waved a hand and all the dust vanished. She swung the chair around and sat on it. There was something of a mother who was not going to be put off by one person's accusations in the set of her jaw, in the thin line of her lips. "You are going to listen to my story and then you're going to tell me if I am human or not since you are so knowledgeable in what is human and what is monster.

"My mother died in her sleep one day in the summer in 34. I was five so what did I know of death? I keep shaking and shaking her, kept screaming and screaming hoping that she was just in a deep sleep. You see, my father was still in service at the time and my mother was more of an illicit affaire and he visited her every noon about since I was born. We were guarded, since he of course was an officer, but we never actually talked to the guards. What did I know? Father had a job and he kept us safe and fed. At the time that I was shaking her, I didn't know frost was forming on the windows and water was freezing to make snow everywhere.

"The guards saw this around the house and ran away to my father who came on his fastest horse and found me trying to wake up my mother. He took me away from her thinking that something was at work. I later found out that the entire room was covered in thick snow and houses above were covered with the signs of a blizzard.

"Back then, Catholicism wasn't popular because Jesus was still in Bethsaida walking on water and feeding the people with his bread and fish, saving the Jews and whatnot. So my father took the snow as a symbolic sign of death as winter is the death in the cycle of seasons.

"My father tried to explain my mother's stillness, her death. I never understood but I obviously refused to accept it. I asked where she was and he would not tell me. It was at some point just before we were going to bury her, I found the room where her body was. This time, I was quieter and asked her to wake up and she didn't. She didn't answer and naturally, I screamed in anger at being ignored. The next thing I know, she's frozen in a block of ice and my father is locking me in a room for later interrogation.

"I didn't understand what was going on until another fairy heard what had happened and came to visit me by breaking into the fort one night. He, Elius, asked me what had happened and he showed me how to make ice by magic. He was the preholder of my title, Elius of the Eternal Winter. He told me he had been looking for me for two hundred years, saying that he had suffered his fill of life. He told me I was to replace him, become the Queen of Eternal Winter, Fairy of the Frozen North. And then he left me saying that he would return when I was older to take his legacy.

"In the years after that, I tried to understand my talents. For all I knew, I was Libitina incarnate—that is, the goddess of death—and the legion started adorning me as their goddess: daughter of Honos, the god of military justice or the sister of Bellona, the first goddess of war. I experimented with ice, water, the wind. My father let me go as I pleased. He realized that the ice and snow was my nature and I was happiest during winter. Winters never affected me, I never got sick, I never got burned. I still didn't know that I was a fairy yet but I benefited from an education as a means of appeasing the child-goddess.

"Elius came back when I was ten and presented himself as _Apollo_! The very god himself! Even I believed that he was Apollo! He was beautiful, he cured even the most fatal of wounds, he was a master archer, he played the lute and harp! He tore the fort to pieces looking for me after the legion refused to give me up. He said that he was here to take away Aurora, bring her back to her brother and sister, Sol and Luna. He said, 'Her sojourn on Earth is over, it is time to return to the heavens.'

"He summoned storms to emphasize his point and I was terrified. Elius wasn't terribly patient, I learned over time. At the fort, he started to disease the crops, rust the weapons and bring winter closer and closer by the hour unless they gave him Aurora.

"Out of fear for the men's lives, my father gave me away to him but I saw it differently. I thought that no one loved me. My mother left me; my father was giving me away. Elius left with me and brought me to his fortress in the north across the ocean on a continent that you humans have yet to even imagine possible. On that continent, I stayed for ten years. I lived with the ancestors of the Thule and the _skrælingar._

"I discovered the beauty of primeval society, a society in which women were equal to men, a society in which we were closer to nature, to God in the simplicity of being alive and taking what was only necessary! I had actually found _Utopia_! A place that does not exist! I saw forests unlike the ones in Europe, untainted by the civilisations of humanity. I saw sights that no one would ever see for a very long time. This continent was a place in which Nature ruled, humans were no better than the deer they ate or the bears and wolves who shared their forest.

"I saw _Onghiara_. _Onghiara_ is a river and waterfall, marvelously beautiful and big, as if created by a joyous God! A sight that I cannot even begin to describe! I made my pilgrimage to _Ongtupqa_, a canyon so great as if the gods had ripped the Earth's canvas apart in their anger, unable to decide what should have been painted there. I climbed _Jomeokee_ and screamed my heart out like an eagle who was king of the sky at its pinnacle.

"I learnt my place in nature, learned that I was apart of it, unlike where the rest of humanity who considered themselves above it. I craved this knowledge, loved every single person I met. Apollo, I still believed he was still a god, was my teacher and I was still young. I didn't understand what I was still but I didn't think I was anything more than that. I thought that this is what he had meant by 'heaven,' for surely it was!

"At sixteen, we had moved the Frost Tower to a land where human sacrifice was unquestionably and absolutely necessary. It was the belief that their gods had died so that humans could live, could prosper on the Earth for a little longer for fear of Judgment Day. They believed that the universe would end one day, that it would die because nothing was forever. The universe went through a cycle of birth, death and rebirth just like everything on this planet.

"They believed that there would only be five ages, five suns. The first sun was called Four Water. In this age, the gods created humans from ashes and gave them acorns for food. This age was ruled by _Chalchiuhtlicue_ but it came to an end when the world was engulfed by floods. Some people were turned into fish to be saved.

"The second sun was Four Jaguar. The people of this age looked like monsters like giants. It was ruled by _Tezcatlipoca_ and came to an end when the sun fell from the sky and set the world on fire. With sun in the sky, the remaining people were eaten by jaguars—big wildcats.

"The third age was Four Rain and was ruled by _Tlaloc_. This age came to an end when fire and rocks rained down from the sky and set the land ablaze again. Some people were saved by being changed into birds.

"The forth sun was known as Four Wind and was ruled by _Quetzalcoatl_. This age came to an end when a great storm raged across the land and blew the people off the face of the world. Some people survived by being changed into monkeys.

"The fifth and final sun is known as Four Movement and is ruled by _Nanahuatzin_. This age came into being when he threw himself into a fire to become the sun. Other gods sacrificed themselves to feed the sun so it would move across the sky. People were created when _Quetzalcoatl_ journeyed to the underworld to recover the remains of humans from the previous suns.

"On his way back, he was forced into a battle with the god of death, and the bones broke. When he returned, he had the earth goddess _Cihuacoatl_ grind the bones into meal. He sprinkled the remains with blood from his manhood to create a new race of humans. The fifth sun will come to an end when the sun no longer receives enough blood to continue his course, and the world will be destroyed by earthquakes.

"In this society, this was why they sacrificed humans so that the sun would stay in the sky. These were humans, no magic, saved for the secret kingdom of the goddess Diana. She was real, she had come from Africa and had been found by her predecessor. She was the Fairy of Nature. Back to the humans, they had showed their greatest love by sacrificing themselves for the good of others. Some of the sacrifices were crueler than others, there were some who had their hearts pulled out and some who simply gave blood.

"I thought surely this was not heaven at all! I cannot describe how cruel but loving these people were. Cannibalism, homosexuality, temples made from the skulls of their sacrifices.

"We returned to the north, away from all of that. All along our travels, I met all sorts of beings, shades, vampires, shapeshifters, werewolves, nymphs, oceanids, naiads… I discovered what I was truly after I deliberately thrown off the _Onghiara_!

"He. Threw. A. Child. Off. A. _WATERFALL!_

"You cannot imagine what I felt. The water roars so loud that you cannot hear yourself think. The water is so white it's blinding and so runs so fast that you do not even dare think about simply dipping your hand in it. At the bottom of the falls are sharp rocks. I was standing on a rock and he pushed me. _He pushed me!_

"I grew these," Aurora pointed to the icy shards on her back, "just before I hit the bottom and froze the falls. My tale doesn't end there though. From then on, I was never the same person. I no longer pretended to be a god incarnate, a happy child or whatever I wanted to be, I realized that was on level with being a god incarnate.

"All fairies are born with a purpose or are expected to perform a task in their lifetime. The natures of our powers reflect what our affinity, or personal god, is. I cannot give you precise answers so bear with me. Sometimes, there's a definitive voice and sometimes, we have to figure it out for ourselves. A fairy may not refuse their task or else their affinity will just kill them off and move on to the next potential man or woman.

"My duties as Queen of Eternal Winter was to be the protector of the north, to make sure that things like the path of the wind, the amount of water in the air, concepts that we humans cannot even begin to imagine, are followed. I am here to balance the repercussions of all living beings on Earth. My powers are beyond your comprehension and even beyond mine sometimes. I am far reaching, a vital part of the cycle of life that if I were to die, the world would fall off its axis and send it hurdling into the darkness between the stars literally and figuratively.

"Like right now, the continent is coming to the end of a period of warmth and my coldness is reaching itself from the north and gradually and slowly making its way down to the south. Don't be excessive! I'm not going to submerge the planet in ice! It's just going to be a little more noticeably colder during winter.

"Fairyhood in not written in blood, Ekene. It doesn't matter who your father or who your mother is, or when you were born and under what banner. People born of vampire blood can be fairies just as much as humans but I know for sure, for myself, that I am human, Ekene. No matter how delusional I was at the time, I am human.

"At the same time though, I know I live beyond the realms of what is human. I have lived for an unnaturally long time, not because I am some sort of good doctor, but because my affinity does not permit me to die. Can you imagine not being allowed to feel whispery embrace of death? Can you imagine watching everyone and anyone you love die when you can't?

"Can you imagine what I could do with my powers? What unity and peace I could bring if I simply invaded the entire continent with the one threat of simple never having winter end? I could do that. My affinity won't stop me from that but I would never permit myself to do that because I know what is truly right. I am part of the cycle, not above it or separate from it. I am no better than the smallest ant who obeys his queen than the omega wolf who is last in line and accepts his faith or the horse who agrees with his herd. I know my place because if I were to do that, not only would humans be incapable of surviving my winters but neither would the dog, the cat, the mouse, the eagle, the fox, even the white bear and fish. I need to eat, too.

"Don't think that because I'm woman that I'm soft and feminine either. If you or some other person gets in my way to fulfill my purpose, I will kill you or that other person without second thought. Now, you tell me, am I monster or am I human?"

Ekene shook. His entire body was alive with jolts, as if he had been hit by lightning. His hands were curled at his knees. His face was unreadable. He did not know what emotion to mold on his face. Monster or human?

Every word invoked images in his head. He saw the room in which her dead mother had been prepared for burial, the legion fort as it was torn asunder by the false Apollo, the majestic falls of which she had been pushed off to grow her wings, stone pyramid temples with steps adorned with human skulls, fantastic forests untouched by humans, a plant toothy that ate insects and flowers of never before seen colours.

Monsters were evil things that wanted to eat humans, to kill them. Monsters were supposed to be evil, relishing pain. They're supposed to be inhumane, unkind and vicious, the stuff of nightmares.

"If you can't answer the question, Ekene, it's fine. Now, I want to hear your story. Don't lie because I will know."

Ekene hunched himself over his lap, unsure of how to start. He spoke haltingly, "I-I was told that if I killed Chikere's father, I would save a lot of people. It told me that it was for the greater good…that in time, I would know why and understand. It said that the fountain must be protected but…I-I don't…I don't know anything about a fountain and it laughed at me, the voice, it laughed saying that it would not matter to me…"

"A fountain?"

Ekene nodded. Aurora stared off into a corner, thinking heavily. An epiphany came upon her.

"Ekene, Chikere's father was the guardian of a fountain of youth. Did you know that?"

"What? No, but what fountain of youth?" he asked incredulously.

"Fountains that grant the drinker a form of immortality with one sip, Ekene and most of them are in Africa. I'm sorry but this is way too important now. I am going to put you to sleep. _Sleep!_"

Ekene slumped in his seat and started to breathe heavily. Aurora waved a hand and he floated into the air and settled reclined on the bed.

"Bernadette!" Aurora roared.

The door shot opened and a young girl with red hair and a yellow dress sauntered in breathless but timid. Her left eye was rimmed black like a wedjat.

"I heard. I saw his thoughts when he mentioned the fountains. Is there really an undiscovered continent across the ocean?"

The door slammed shut with just Aurora's gaze and room chilled noticeably.

"Madame Aurora?" Bernadette squealed as the walls iced and her breathe became white mists. She looked at the ice fairy and saw a beast in the blond woman's eyes. She was undergoing the same transformation Ekene had undergone and killed Chikere's father.

Aurora's voice was a celestial choir of melodic voices, as if more than one person, a multitude of divine beings were speaking through her. The voices were soft and soothing, like the voice of an angel. Aurora seemed to pour magic from every pore, every particle shown with a blinding light from her being. Was she possessed? Was she going to kill her? What had she done to deserve this?! The ice fairy shown like God at the end of the dark tunnel. Bernadette was overwhelmed by the superior fairy's presence and crumbled to her knees. She felt herself want to cry.

"_Mon dieu!_ No, don't kill me!"

The light diminished slightly so that Bernadette could see again. Aurora reached for her with a hand and Bernadette recoiled. Aurora stopped for a moment in an alien fashion, as if perplexed and reached again. She caught Bernadette's sleeve and pulled her up with some invisible strength. The girl stood on her toes and was forced to look into Aurora's face.

"_Little girl, what you heard, what you will hear, what you will see, what you will learn in this man's mind,_" Aurora brought a hand to the girl's mouth and the girl flinched as the touch burned. It was so cold it burned. "_Will never leave these lips. If they do, _Aurora_ will cut your tongue, take away your voice, sew your mouth shut. If your hands can't be silent, _Aurora_ will kill you. Do we have your word?_"

Bernadette nodded vehemently and fainted. The light, the godliness, faded from Aurora's being. She placed Bernadette on a chair and went to the door where she ordered for dinner to be delivered, for three. She also asked for more comfortable chairs as an after thought. They were possible going to spend a long time.

Asta watched with mute fascination as Aurora circled the room. The woman scared the crap out of her. The ice fairy had undergone a divine fairy possession by her own personal affinity. This woman was possibly the most powerful and potent being on the planet (at the time) by the way she had described her powers.

The witch watched as the memory destabilized and fade away. She panicked as she saw the familiar thoughtless blackness come over. This was not supposed to happen! This kind of darkness only meant that someone had recognised her presence.

Aurora maintained her being as the room faded. She radiated the same godly light from when she had threatened Bernadette. Light poured from her eyes and mouth. Aurora's body was going to rip at her atomic seams from the power she was overflowing with. The being, the affinity was still here! Its mere presence suffocated her consciousness and she readied herself to go back to her body before she died.

Asta slingshot her mind but crashed into a painful but powerful wall. Her mind was jarred, dizzy and disorientated. Shit! She was trapped! She pounded at the barrier fiercely and a little terrified.

"_Astrid Stryker…Diana…do you think we would harm you?_"

Asta turned and cowered as Bernadetta had. Around her, she could feel the familiar dimension of physical void shake, tremble and threaten to fall apart as she ascended to a higher place full of joyous singing, like choirs of the most beautiful voices in nature, something like heaven. She could hear the songs of making play at full crescendo and then stop.

"_Faithful one,_" the celestial choir sang through Aurora.

"What's going on?!" Asta shouted. Her eyes were contracted in fear and her head felt like it was going to explode with the unbearable noise from the chorus. The music was so beautiful, it was unbearable. The witch had been used to all sorts of mental noise: dark thoughts, forbidden thoughts, illicit thoughts but beautiful thoughts and happy thoughts, they were either bounties of white silence that had her in awe or overwhelming screechy choirs of sirens that had her recoiling in pain at such perfection. She wanted to foam at the mouth, heave the contents of her stomach and simply kill herself.

"_Stop this searching, Diana. Roxy is in the church._" The heavenly chorus stopped dead as Aurora spoke.

Asta's sickness abated and she looked up in drunken stupor at Aurora who shone as if a sun shone behind her, like the images of Jesus Christ with the halos behind his head. It took her several moments to regain her bearings. What church? It was a whole fortress of magical creatures and they had a church still? She thought that the Church on Earth despised the pagan and magical.

"_She finds solace in the church._"

"My name is Di_jana_. I am Eraklyonite, immigrated!" Asta shouted. "Who are you?"

"_That does not matter, Di…Dijana. Is that how you prefer it?_" The voice sounded strange.

"Yes."

"_Dijana, I have a test for you._"

"What?" the witch shouted.

"_NOW, DIJANA._"

Asta felt like she was hit by a brick wall. She quieted and let the divinity speak.

"_Do you believe in protection of the innocent?_"

She answered yes without even a second thought.

"_Do you believe in King Sky's innocence?_"

"No!" she screamed. "He's a twisted murderer who lets others be martyred for his mistakes!"

"_That is all I need. Thank you._"

The memory of Aurora into the darkness. She felt herself descend down the dimensions back to the physical void and another memory started.

* * *

**Terminology:** (because God knows that we really need one for this chapter; in order of appearance)  
'intuitive hive mind': Akin to group mind, groupthink and or collective consciousness. Or you can imagine a colony of ants with a non-existent queen (which wouldn't work).  
Leif Erikson: For anyone one who is not American in its broadest sense, Erikson Norse explorer who discovered N. America/Canada first (after the Aboriginals and before Columbus) and didn't really tell anyone about it.  
Helluland: Where Erikson landed first in Canada, possibly Baffin Bay.  
Auto-da-fé: 'Act of faith' in Spanish. A sentence of death pronounced on a heretic/condemned by a court of the Spanish/Portuguese/etc. Inquisition and carried out by the civil authorities. Usually burning at the stake. First one was in Paris in 1242.  
Wedjat/Eye of Horus: A symbol associated with Egyptian gods Ra or Horus. Symbolised as 'all-seeing.' Why a French girl would have this on her eye, I have no idea.  
Skrælingar and Thule: Proto-inuits and Norse Greenlanders respectively. At this point, you know she's talking about America, right?  
Utopia: By translation, it means 'a place that does not exist,' not 'paradise.'  
Onghiara: Aboriginal name for Niagara Falls.  
Ongtupqa: Aboriginal name for Grand Canyon.  
Jomeokee: Alleged aboriginal name for Pilot Mountain, North Carolina.  
Legend of the Five Suns: This is Aztec mythology.  
Little Ice Age: A period of global cooling after a period of warmth. When it started is debated, around as early as turn of the millenium.

**Latter Note:** I cannot imagine what anyone must be feeling after this. If you're feeling weird, that's fine. I remember reading an old WC fic where Faragonda said it was Jesus who drove away all the magical creatures from Earth. Also, I'm feeling Anne Rice-esque after finishing _Memnoch the Devil_.

Aurora's character, the one I developed, is really interesting because to me, she seems to be the model fairy in contrast to the Winx Club who have a long way to go. She might have been Earthbound unlike the Winx who had boys with intergalactic fightercrafts to go cruising anywhere they wanted as well as the money (let's not forget battling evil incarnate) but Aurora knows her duties and powers. The real Aurora from the show has only about seven speaking lines that show that she's very loyal. I took it from there that she would be this kind of person.


	31. Chapter 31 1347 Plague

**Verboten  
****Chapter 31**

Wednesday, January 28, 2010

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Winx Club.

**Fore Note:  
**heliaxasta: Nice name…I said they were exes…I don't plan on Helia getting back together with her.

* * *

**1346, winter in Europe.**

"Is it 1347 now?"

"Well, this looks like New Years, right?" Sky looked at the recently-rained-upon town strung with various colourful decorations. In the windows, there were colour banners. In the piazza, it looked like a festive scene was about to take place but the weather and the tense politics was making it seem like a bad omen was coming upon the town.

Bloom was walking again, although at a slower pace. She gave a pointed look to Sky.

"What do you mean right?"

"I don't know. What does New Years look like on Earth?"

"Oh, nevermind."

They stood on the pier as ships were preparing to set sail in a few days. From what they could gather, fairies were killing guardians of something in Africa. The threat was annoyingly still nameless but it was selective.

"What about Gauntlos?"

"What about him?"

"I just can't stand seeing him there. It's wrong. We know he's evil!"

"It's a memory, Bloom. It happened in the past and can't be changed. I'm guessing that this was some sort of inside operation to destroy the magical population but I still don't see how this makes ends meet. Why did they do all this?"

"Isn't it power?"

"Yeah, but it can't be that simple. Power means a lot of things: economic power, political power, magical power, war. I guess it's magic but it can't be that simple either."

"What else is there to magic? Valtor did it. Stole magic in the universe, that is."

"Valtor stole knowledge and powerful tools _of _magic, not real magic. Books and enchanted boxes aren't magic because they have a tangible form. Magic isn't always constant or physically tangible like in the really old barriers that block non-believers from Magix."

"What else is there to magic? Valtor wanted all the magic in the universe so he could take it over. The Black Circle want to take away all the magic on Earth for…"

"See what I mean? Their Black Circle spell is supposed to be a spell that steals fairy magic but for what? So they could be the sole possessors of all the magic on Earth? It seems so…" All sorts of possibilities went through the king's mind. Most of them were pessimistic in nature. "It's, well, a possible plan."

"Sky?" Bloom looked at her fiancé's face for answers.

Billions of thoughts seem to collide in his eyes.

"I think I know why there's no magic on Earth now, even if there's no fairies."

She waited for him to explain.

"Bloom, they must have wiped out not only the fairies but _witches_ too."

"Witches? But why their own kind?"

"Witches aren't held together by patriotism like nations. They have covens for that. Fairy magic is possible to transfer from person to person but it's extremely difficult; the owners can change because affinities might not find this person suitable for the job. Remember when Faragonda took away your powers for skipping school to visit Earth and made you clean Alfea by hand?" Really, there was a lot more times than Sky knew and she hadn't told him about every single time they had gotten that punishment. "Well, witch magic isn't transferable."

"Ms. F told me that once." She looked to him for clarification. She had asked Faragonda about how the witches never had their magic taken away every time they got captured.

"Magic isn't directly attached to the person, or that person's soul, unlike for fairies. It's why Icy, Darcy and Stormy always have their magic. Witch magic can't be diluted either because magic requires mastering like seventeen different dimensions and a lot of belief and understanding but you can mess with the psyche to make it seem like it's diluted. Any creature that's not a fairy can use magic but that only works if one can understand it. Understanding is key to using magic. If there's no understanding, there is no belief."

"God, Sky, I'm the fairy here. How is it that you know more about magic than me? It's not as if they threw witches into the Black Circle, too, is it?"

"I think it's a lot worst than that. What would they do with all that useless magic?"

"What? Kill them?"

Sky looked to the backed to the boats after someone started to beat a tune on a drum. "I think they killed them all. It's the only way to beat the belief out of Earth."

"You're not serious!"

"How, Bloom. How could all those people have been killed fast enough that a new generation was not capable of surviving?"

Bloom let it sink in for several long moments. "Ohmigod, Sky, no, stop it! Will you listen to yourself?!" Bloom backed away from him and turned.

"Bloom, tell me, is anything that I'm saying at all possible on Earth? Some type of giant mass killing?"

There were many kinds of mass killings that knew of including Rwandan Genocide, Japanese war crimes and the Holocaust. She got very scared. She didn't want to remember her Earth lessons from high school, she was past that. Plus, she hated high school, she had been so childish putting up with Mitzi and dating Andy. "What do you need to know this for?"

"What happens if the Black Circle comes to Eraklyon and they instigate the same Fairy Holocaust that destroyed magic on Earth? I'm not going to wait for it to happen. Bloom, tell me. We have an opportunity to find out about how Earth got to its unfortunate state and we can't pass this up. I need know how to kill them."

Bloom turned. "_Unfortunate?!_ We're talking about the planet that I grew up on!"

Sky continued on. "It would never be the planet it is today if the Black Circle had never took all the magic! Mike and Vanessa could've had magic and you would have never been lost when they sent you to Alfea! For all I know, you could have been happier or Dafne would have never sent you to Earth because there was magic. She sent you to magicless planet in hopes that you would survive even if you didn't know who or _what_ you were."

"She did it because she loved me!"

"But would she have chosen Earth if it _had_ magic? In any case, they can travel planets, so they have legally embedded themselves in the galactic legal system and I want to bring them down before the situation gets worst. We have Roxy. There is still hope."

Sky started to walk down the pier, looking at boats. The place smelled horrible but she had figured out by herself how to down the importance of the smell in her mind and therefore its presence. Basically, the smell of brownish black water mixed with who knows what kind of human was not as present as it should have been.

Sky's determination scared her. He was quieter and more regal about it but his determination overshadowed hers by a mile. She was brave and righteous, having grown up on Earth but Sky was a whole different matter. While she stood for good and fought evil, he fought what was kind of good and kind of evil and chose sides in unfair and complicated battles that did not always involve swords or dragons.

'They must be killed,' he pretty much said when he said, "I need know how to kill them." He might as well had just said, "I will kill them myself."

The idea of Sky and killing was foreign in her mind. She had never heard him act like that before in Red Fountain. Was it policy? It sounded like something Red Fountain would teach. Did Sky believe in the death penalty? Bloom had never been one for it even if it had been abolished recently in Italy but taking another life? That seemed totally unfair.

But killing one to save a billion seemed just as valid. Especially for someone who was a king. And had the threat of planetary magical annihilation over his head.

If only things would return to normal for one day.

Sky returned. "I'm sorry," he said apologetically. Bloom was surprised by the sudden turnaround. "I could name you a number of logical reasons why I'm so hard to deal with but let's go with the fact that I'm a jackass low on patience." Bloom was taken back by his self-proclaimed status and sudden apology. _A jackass?_ "Do you have any ideas on how to find Roxy?"

Bloom shook her head, clueless still. "We know that these aren't Roxy's memories, right? Then whose memories are these?"

"A good question. We know that this person has to have been trapped in the White Circle, maybe even more people if possible. There is no doubt in my mind that this person lived in the era you called the Middle Ages. That's at least five hundred years ago from Earth's current date, give or take a century. Specifically, it's 13—" Sky had a vacant look on his face for a moment, "—_47_ now. Do you know anything that happened during these years?"

"No idea. A lot of things happened. There were the Crusades for the Holy Land but that's a little too early."

"The 'Crusades?'"

"Um, people died for, um, a piece of very sacred land in the Middle East in like the twelfth century."

"How many people died?"

Bloom was unnerved by how he could openly talk about this and he was taking the subject seriously too. She herself would have never. History was history and it seemed like it happened liked such a long time ago. "Not a lot, I think. Catholics were killing a lot of Muslims and heretics but it still wasn't a lot. I would think that there were a lot more fairies and witches if they were able to kill _all_ of them." Bloom found herself reflecting. What a morbid subject. "I would guess that they had hid themselves away because of the Church."

"One fairy, the fairy of whatever Roxy is, must have survived though," Sky said. "Any other important events that include a high death count?"

"Well, there is the Plague if that means anything to you but that's a sickness."

-

"So this plague, it killed a lot of people?"

"Sky, don't say it like that." After trying to explain the complexities of eleventh to sixteenth century Earth, she was just about frustrated with Sky's way of seeing things. Couldn't he be a little sympathetic to the plight of Earth? It wasn't hard.

Sky let out a deep breathe. Femininity at its best. "I've seen and studied many plagues and famines, Bloom. I'm not about to break down now for this one. So how many people died of this bubonic plague?"

She gave him a blank look. "Well, a lot."

He looked at her for clarification but he knew from her face that she did not know.

"Like enough to be noticeable. Like just below half of the population."

"Any numbers?"

"I don't know." Bloom seemed to be wracking her mind for answers, intensely nervous under his gaze.

"Then it's fine. Let's keep moving. We need to find Roxy soon."

Both of them were like in a sense of timelessness, like nothing was moving forward. They turned around towards what looked like the main road up into the town. The strange magical settlement still confused them, Bloom especially, but they had other pressing things to answer. They walked up the road as if walking away from a once in a lifetime opportunity. The street was empty save for the occasional person rushing. A tall hooded man wearing a grey cloak rushed passed them, also in a hurry and muttering something about delayed plans. Bloom did not notice the man but Sky did.

"Who was that?" Sky narrowed his eyes on the receding grey silhouette.

Bloom turned too. She said the first word that came to mind. "Cipriano? A priest? Well, you don't see that everyday."

The man, Cirpriano, stopped just three meters away from them in front of a shop door. The door opened and a smiling woman in a green dress and fur cloak stepped out. She had glistening black hair and small green leaf-like wings. She wore a smile on her face, happy despite the grim mood of the entire town.

The man pulled down his hood, showing his red hair and pale thin face. He was also smiling.

Bloom's blood stopped in their veins. The face of a mass murdering fairynapper was smiling. Smiling! He was acting friendly and cordially. He spoke to the woman reverendly. She caught the word 'Morgana' in there. "Ogron?!" Bloom screamed.

Morgana slipped her arm into Cirpriano's offered one and they walked away.

Bloom's legs turned to water and Sky caught her before she fell.

"No, no way…" Bloom repeated, shocked by the dark wizard's appearance. Who was she kidding? She was horrified!

The fire princess resisted in Sky's hands as he tried to turn her around and walk away from the couple.

"Bloom, walk away. We can't do anything about it now," Sky said.

"_Ogron?_ Here?" she whispered. "Now?"

A third voice broke her trance. "Sky, Bloom."

Sky turned to see his second lieutenant standing up the street. Asta seemed noticeably paler than usual and her eyes wide. It looked like she had found or seen something terrible or incredibly wonderful.

_Merciful Dragon, was everyone having divine epiphanies except for him?_

Asta spoke with a hesitant voice. "I know where Roxy is."

* * *

**Latter Note:** IB PERSONAL PROJECT IS OVER!!! D-Day's passed! Now to cegep!

Oh yeah, now that Cipriano's been revealed as a Ogron who posed as a Catholic priest and Kasimir/Gauntlos as a Teutonic Knight (religion has nothing to do with it)...on to the present!


	32. Chapter 32 Africa, America

**Verboten**

**Chapter 32**

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Winx Club.

**Fore Note:** Yeah, it's not about the present. I wanted it to be by the end of this chapter but I realized that this chapter would be huge then. Plus, I want to finish what I started properly.

* * *

"Forget about Ogron and Gauntlos for now, Bloom. Let's go." Sky was a man on a mission. He wanted out as soon as possible. Logically and methodically, he figured out where the church was by hopping unto a roof and looking for a building with a cross at the top. The church was the emptiest building of all in the entire town, abandoned. With Sky leading, he opened the heavy door slowly and slipped in discretely. Asta and Bloom followed. The room was humid and there was a strong smell of incense. Bloom looked at the stone angel beside the door, holding the stoup for the holy water in its hands. It was almost empty.

The church was small, small for even modern ones. The benches were plain, unlike the carved church rows that she was used to. The altar at front was nothing more than a spindly table and a wooden carving of the crucifix hung on the wall above it. The air was thick with dust and a handful of fat prayer candles were lit in the far corner of the church. There was the sound of murmuring.

Sky walked down the aisles and looked in the direction of the candles while Asta stared at the altar and crucifix, obviously disturbed. Bloom followed Sky.

"Lord, this is Roxy. Please, give me strength. Help me or guide me. I need your help, please," a pink-haired girl whispered tearfully. Roxy kneeled in front of the table of candles with her hands folded in front of her in prayer. Her eyes were closed and her hair was a mess. She wore jeans and a pink shirt with sneakers.

Sky approached her from her side. He purposely kicked a pebble so that it bounced across the floor. Roxy turned at the sound of the pebble, terrified.

"Sky? What are you doing here?!"

"We're here to bring you back, Roxy," Sky said.

She looked at him confused. She saw that Asta and Bloom were also present.

"It's hard to explain here but if you come with us, you'll know what I mean."

"But—"

"Roxy, we know you're scared but you can get through this." Sky said gently and turned to Bloom for support.

Bloom stiffened, surprised. "Yeah, everything will be fine in the end." Bloom took tentative steps towards Roxy.

"What happened to you?" Roxy gave Bloom an once-over at her outfit and adolescent wings.

"It's…a long story." Bloom kneeled beside Roxy. "Are you okay?"

Roxy backed away from Bloom, terrified. "Don't come near me! I don't want anymore of this! No more magic! I didn't want any of this. I want to be normal!"

"Roxy, please understand—" Bloom started.

"No, you understand me! I didn't want any of this! Who said that I had to know what I am?! You could have just zapped my mind with a memory spell or something and leave me alone. I didn't want any of this!"

Sky watched the exchange. "Well, we didn't want any of this either so the feeling is mutual," he said rather coldly. "Normal is what you make of it, Roxy. You have two choices: you can come with us back to the real world or you can stay here and die."

"Sky?!" Asta and Bloom yelled.

"Die? What are you talking about?" Roxy said feigning confusion. Sky saw the lack of conviction.

"You know what's going on here. You're in the process of committing mental suicide by amnesia. Think of all the problems you'll cause when you wake up. Roxy, right now you are in a coma and Klaus is at the side of your bed hoping that you'll wake up as the same daughter that he knows."

"My father is in the hospital!" Sheer terror passed through her eyes at the mention of her father.

"Wrong, it's been a week since your last visit and he's been released. He's at the warehouse waiting. He knows everything. Us, the guys, the Winx, the operation and _you_."

"Why did you bring him into this?!" she screamed enraged. "He's not supposed to know!" She got up, emanating violence.

Sky stood his ground. "He is has every right to know. He's your father and he loves you. I'm giving you two choices: come back or stay here and die."

"I'm not going to die!" Roxy squeaked, saying 'die' as if she were scared of saying it. "I'm just going to wipe away all the bad memories!"

"Amnesia is just as permanent as death. It is the death of your personality, of the person that your father raised and loved. Can you commit to that, Roxy? Will you hurt your father like this when he realizes that you don't remember anything? Not only does he have to worry about his health but also about his daughter's now. He has one arm in a sling that he won't be able to use for several months and now a daughter with no memories. All his love for you shattered when you cannot reciprocate it properly."

Sky was shaming her by using her father's relationship and condition, Bloom saw. Her blood turned to ice and then boiled dangerously at his personality switch. He was playing Devil's advocate, acting as a necessary evil.

At the same time, she had to agree with him. He was right. Could Roxy really do that to her own father? Bloom had thought that she was stronger than this.

"I don't believe that you love your crippled father if you're so willing to cause him more problems. What a selfish person you are, maybe you're better off dying."

Roxy could not take this anymore. Her resolve was crumbling and she resorted to only thing that came to mind. She threw herself at Sky. She was a ball of fury, punching and kicking him. "Shut up, you ass! I love my father! Don't you dare call him that!" She aimed a punch at his jaw and felt like she hit a wall. At this she backed away.

Sky was unfazed. He knew his words were mean. He rubbed a hand on his jaw where she had hit him. "If you really loved your father, you would come back, wake up and deal with your problems instead of running away from them. We can be your friends, not only me, Bloom, Asta, Brandon or Stella but everyone else like Artos and Chandra. We can help you get through all of this but you have to be willing to accept it all first.

"We all have families who worry about us, Roxy. Believe it or not. My mother wants me home ASAP because I need to run a kingdom; Bloom has to get reacquainted with her real parents who haven't seen her in eighteen years; Layla and Nabu have to prepare for their wedding on Tides and the rest of the guys have to go back so that they can go into service for their worlds. Every parent is terrified of seeing their own children die and your father is no exception. If Brandon were to ever die under me, who do you think would be the one to bring back his dog tag to his parents and sisters?

"I understand what you're going through but that this is not the way to do it. There are alternatives, much better than this. If you come with us, we will show you how to make it better."

"I want to be normal," Roxy said looking at the floor for answers. She felt like she was cornered. "I don't want to change."

"Change is constant, Roxy. It is up to you to accept it or not. You make your own choices, Roxy." He was extending trust, making her believe that she was still in control.

A feeling of déjà vu passed over Roxy. "_We're only a voice in your head. You make your own choices, Roxy._"

"Will you come with us? I will do everything in my power to make it better," Sky promised. He offered a hand, as if to guide her.

"_It's up to you to pick your friends and enemies. Will you accept your changes?_" that weird voice from her dream had said.

What this one of the changes?

"Okay," she said. She reached for Sky's hand, completely played by his ploy but hoping for the best.

-

The beginning of the year 1347 was bleak and dreary for the magical creatures that had convened in Sicillia. As soon as it was possible, a fleet had set off for Africa. Meadhbh, Bladen and Steorra were included. They had gone to fight a war that they could not see. Nebula had been left at 'home.' She felt all sorts of emotions: enraged at being left behind and terrified that she would never see them again and that the danger was just that great.

She was not the only one who had been left behind though. There was Mirela and Ayesha and mainly the _women_ who had been left behind along with a heavy defense. It was a typical tactic. She didn't know what but something inside told her that it was all just going to go wrong. That or she just restless. She had become acquainted with Ayesha, helping her to improve her English and accepting her new life.

She had no idea what was going on. She wished she knew. Her brother got to know everything because he was older and much more important in the entire scheme of the universe. He undoubtedly knew what was going on because he had uneasily avoided the subject of sailing to Africa like a swarm of locust.

At the same time, she did not want to bother him too much about it. He looked like he was carrying a heavy weight already. He wore the look that he always wore when he was about to leave and the very possibility of never back was real. One late night, just a week ago before the fleet had left, she had caught scraps of conversation in the common room that she was probably never meant to hear. It was not anything illicit but that fact that her brother had said anything like that put her on edge.

"I don't think that I'm going to come back from this whole," she heard him say as she came down the stairs for something to drink.

The common room was almost empty and dark with the fire in the chimney reduced to hot glowing ashes. Steorra poked cinder with a poker, trying to get it to relight. Frustrated, threw a heavy log in made it burst into flames with a flick of his wrist until it burned steadily by itself.

He sat himself on the carpet before it, absorbing the heat.

"How can you be sure of that?" Someone, a woman, sat on a chair. She spoke quietly, making Nebula strain her ears.

"I just know."

"Aurora and her ice castle are going to leave soon. She's not staying with us to see the turn of events. She said that she's done her purpose for now and you know where she's going? _Tir Nan Og _to wait it out!" Steorra almost shouted in frustration.

"Tir Nan Og? What is that?"

"It's where I come from. It's a hidden island in Eire."

There was a moment of hesitation. "You must miss it then."

"Yes. Mother, Father, Mu Lan, almost everyone is going to Africa. They figured what the patterns behind the murders were but I'm terrified of why they're killing people. I just don't know what to do. Half the time, I'm scared about the unknown."

"It's natural to be scared of the unknown, isn't it?"

"Yes, but I think it's going to be worst than that."

"How?"

"I don't know."

There was a long silence and Steorra stared at the crackling fire.

"I'm scared that I'm not going to see Nebula or Morgana or you anymore. It feels like that."

"Don't talk like that."

After that, Nebula had walked away from that conversation as fast as possible into her room and curled into her bed, scared. She prayed to every god she knew that her family would be whole by the end of this ordeal. Everyone prayed because it was the only thing that they could do. They prayed to the upper echelons of the universe that had sent them to Earth.

It was almost the end of February now. Nebula had been immediately ensconced in reading poetry and pieces of work literature ever since the men had left on Morgana's orders. She couldn't for the life of her understand why this was important. She already knew how to read and write in three languages!

They were in the library, along with Mirela, her sisters and several other women. Morgana made the girls and women read difficult pieces of literature aloud in turn.

"_A creature strong,_

_Without flesh, without bone,_

_Without veins, without blood,_

_Without head, and without feet._

_It will not be older, it will not be younger,_

_Than it was in the beginning._

What a horrible sounding thing! What kind of man imagines these things?!" Mirela dropped the Book of Taliesin in her lap. She had been reading Kanu Ygwynt, the Song of the Wind.

"Exactly, only men could," someone said.

Far the women's circle, Cipriano skimmed manuscripts in the small library. He coughed to remind the women of his presence. Cipriano had been kept in Sicillia for purely practical reasons, as he was a priest who could safely divert the Church's gaze should something happen.

Morgana looked to the ceiling for help. "There is a lesson in this, Mirela. All words have meaning. They also have power. Our magic comes from being able to dictate aloud what we want to happen if it is beyond simple thought. I can make a book fly"—Morgana pointed at the Book of Taliesin and it levitated in front of Mirela—"but I can't make it burn without saying 'burn.' Fire is not my ability, air is. We aren't as powerful as Queen Meadhbh or Lady Mu Lan. Queen Meadhbh can move islands without thinking and Lady Mu Lan can bring lightning on clear days—all of this without words."

"But they're older than us and more powerful," Mirela argued.

The book dropped on Mirela's lap. "But they are women, aren't they? As powerful as men? One day, we might live to be as old as them, too. Even though the men are in Africa, we still have a role. We can't hold a sword like a man can but we still have magic to defend ourselves. We are weak in the sense that we have no real bodily strength but we do have senses: our eyes and ears. We see and hear things that men think we aren't aware of and that is important.

"Queen Meadhbh and Lady Mu Lan aren't like us. They don't live under their husbands, they aren't kept—they live beside them in equity. Of course, they fulfill the role of a woman by being mothers, Nebula and Steorra are proof of this, but they choose not to observe the usual view." Morgana glanced at Cipriano's back for a moment. "That is the Church's view," she whispered.

"Well, I don't believe in it either," Mirela said. Some of the other women nodded as well.

"But who is it that hunts for dinner when you travel."

"That doesn't mean anything! I can set rabbit and squirrel traps."

"But who actually brings food to your table everyday? Certainly not you. They don't see roles defined by gender."

"They can pick up a sword, I can pick up a bow, Morgana."

"Can you willingly take the life of another, not an animal, but a human?" The chattering women were silenced by Morgana's words. "Words have meaning, and they have power but we only have so much power with so many words. That is why we are reading."

"To learn more words?" Nebula said. "Words are your powers, Morgana, not ours. You're the Fairy of Limning."

"Words are still power. The more the words you know the more precision you can execute and manifest your powers and ideas."

"I don't understand. What is your point?"

"The point is that you need to expand your horizons. Don't limit yourself to only the magic that you do know. Let me show you. _Like moths to fire, eat all light._"

Shapeless masses of darkness dropped from the ceiling like blobs of slime unto every source of light. A woman screamed as the masses swallowed all the candles and torches, one had thrown itself into the fire and the others slithered to the windows. The room was pitch black, as if it were night.

"_Leoht._" Nebula lighted a ball of light in her palm. Something projected itself at the ball and she yelped in surprise. It furry but a sort of mushy and made a squishing sound. The light was swallowed in an instant.

"What was that?!" someone squealed.

Nebula tried to feel around in the darkness. She couldn't even see her hand in front of her. She felt the edges of her seat, a table, the book in her lap. She felt an all-consuming sense of panic, being completely blinded.

Morgana let the darkness recede into the ceiling and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Some of them rubbed their eyes.

"You're not as experienced as me," Morgana said, "but in this world, we need to be prepared, whether we are running from humans or fighting our own." Morgana met all of the women's eyes. She looked about as if something was missing. "Where is Father Cipriano?"

-

Africa was ridiculously and agonizingly hot for Steorra. How people managed to live in these places was beyond him. At first, it had been beaches and soaring palm trees. It had been like a vacation after the leaving the wintery Europe but as they went upriver, it slowly became dense salty swamps and unbearable mosquitoes that bit at him at every chance. He had changed to lighter clothes and armour to compensate for the heat.

He was on a small boat headed upriver into the heartland of Africa. His two other companions were Ruairi and Gaetano. Ruairi was a childhood friend whose father was a smith and work for Steorra's family. Steorra had only met Gaetano recently when Shang was dividing the forces into small parties. Gaetano was an archer and bowyer by trade but he did know how to carry a sword. Ahead of him, his mother in her minimized pixie-like form scouted ahead. The boat lazily followed Meadhbh as she fluttered about.

"Wish we knew where we going, Steorra," Ruairi said.

"Don't ask me. I didn't see the map. I only know why we're here."

"The less we know, the better?" Gaetano said.

"Right. Let's just keep up with Mother." Steorra pointed at a dense copse of trees that Meadhbh flew into.

They turned the boat and sighed as the shade from the tree top cooled them. They kept their eyes and ears open. It was unnaturally quiet and the trees were getting denser and denser as they went in until there was almost no light. Meadhbh glowed orange in the shadows. A few more moments of drifting in the shadows and they felt the felt the boat jolt against a hard surface.

"We're here," Meadhbh announced. She showered herself in fairy dust and returned to her normal size. She radiated an orange light that allowed the men to see the knotty and uneven floor.

Steorra looked underfoot, curious as to how the floor was made. It was like thousands upon thousands of vines and tree roots had woven themselves into a hard but soft carpet. Some parts of it were soggy and rotting and it made him nervously. Looking up, he saw the curved and spiraled patterns form in the jagged ceiling. Were they inside of a tree?

The four of them moved deeper into the tree cautious. Their steps made the most unsettling noises. They tried for silence but every step was an unknown. They did not know whether they step on a solid root or soft one.

In this place, Steorra could sense the spiritual resonance of something powerful: the deafening heartbeat of an extremely large being. The walls were covered with a bioluminescent substance and they glowed rhythmically with the heartbeat. All of the men were wary of the glow but Meadhbh walked ahead, undaunted by the phenomena and then stopped for a moment.

"Mother?" Steorra called out.

"Just listen. Do you hear it?"

"Hear what?"

"The pulse of this planet. It's wonderful."

"Of course," Steorra said, unsure. He looked to Ruairi and Gaetano for assurance. There some things that he knew that he could not relate to with his mother because she was a fairy and he supposed that this was one of them.

"Don't lie. Break that one beat and try to decompose that one sound into many and you will hear the life of this planet. Don't use your ears."

"I don't understand."

"The pulse of this planet is not like a human pulse. It is not a real sound but a collection of memories gathered from everything that has ever lived and died. Ashes to ashes and dust to dust as if were. Everything eventually returns to the planet with new knowledge and experiences. If a human were to come in here, he would not hear what you are hearing simply because he so disconnected to the planet. You three think it's a sound because that's it is translated, it is how we usually think of the sound of the heart."

"Wait, we're at the planet's heart?!" Ruairi shouted in alarm.

"It's only a vein, Ruairi, not the heart. Let's keep moving forward. Someone should have met us already."

Steorra instinctively pulled out his sword and Gaetano and Ruairi did the same. Meadhbh did not stop them.

Moving forward with caution, the green bioluminescence started to define itself like roots over every surface around them. It was eerie the way it pulsed with the unknown heartbeat. There was no true source of the sound because it came every direction and nowhere at the same time. They knew they were hearing something but whether it was a real sound or something from inside their head was unknown.

The glowing roots on the walls, floor and ceiling grew tangled as they moved until the surfaces were completely covered. The tunnel opened into a cathedral-size room. The men gasped in awe at the sheer simplicity of it. There was something extremely primal and dirty about it yet so uniquely magnificent and wondrous about the eerie glow that pulsed throughout the chamber like a real heart. There were roots everywhere of every size and glow moved about like blood in an artery. Steorra could swear that he saw some of them moving. The floor dropped into a dangerous incline towards a small almost insignificant pool of glowing water the size of a pond, the originator of the booming pulse.

"What is that?" Gaetano pointed at the pool.

"What is _all_ of this?" Ruairi asked.

Meadhbh spoke in a reverent whisper. "The vein of the planet."

"Is that the fountain, Mother?" Steorra whispered closely, not wanting the other two to hear.

She nodded imperceptibly. "Stay here, you three," she ordered softly which surprised Steorra. He usually saw his mother as a more militant-like person with a harsh commanding voice when it involved everything other than raising him.

"But why?"

"The temptation will be too great." The fae queen threw her long hair back and stepped forward. She slipped down the slippery incline before anyone could stop her. She came to a stop at the edge of the pool and looked in.

She felt her senses overload as she looked. She saw millions upon millions of lives swim in the pool. There were not only humans but the largest of creatures to the smallest, some of them terrifying but innately marvelous for simply having existed once. She saw the lives of bacteria and of extinct behemoth lizard-like creatures. She saw both the magical and non-magical mix and mingle. She heard the voices of uncountable amounts, heard different emotions: a baby's first breathe, a young man screaming as his limbs pulled apart by horses, a woman silently dying in labour, a deaf child's wonder. All of these sounds and many more comprised of the heartbeat of the Earth.

Meadhbh saw the beauty of the present, of living and knowing and accepting one's existence. She saw many things that she doubted that she would not remember for they were too great. Her one small consciousness could not handle it. She saw things that she supposed that she was never meant to know.

Dizzy, she felt her legs and weaken she almost fell into the fountain until she remembered Aurora's words.

"If you touch the water without calling its guardian, you will die. This fountain's guardian nymphe is both the fountain and the guardian. This one's name is Munashe. Call it out before you become too engrossed with the secrets of the water. The water will tempt you with the knowledge of life. That is how it will kill you for it also knows the secrets of death." Those were Aurora's instructions to Meadhbh.

The fae queen struggled to regain control of her body and say the fountain's name.

"It will be easier if a fairy goes, someone as strong as you because they are more connected to the planet by their affinity than a normal person like your son. Do not let anyone go near it if you truly love them." Meadhbh had completed that precaution, now if only she could say the name.

She struggled to form the syllables on her lips. She closed her eyes to block out the vision in the water. She was being overwhelmed by its sheer existence and knowledge. "Munashe!" Meadhbh screamed.

There was a thunderous roar of wind. Meadhbh fell onto her backside, pushed by the sudden magical wind radiating from the fountain. The water rippled and Meadhbh's heart almost gave out. A blue hand shot out from the water and grabbed on to the edge.

"Mother!" Steorra screamed.

A naked body heaved itself out of the pool. It was lithe, slightly feminine and blue like the ocean. Its hair was fiery red and tangled. Meadhbh could vaguely make out glimmering scales all over its body. The nymph looked like a drowned woman.

"I am the crinaeae Munashe. I guard this fount." Its voice was a like a dozen beings were speaking through it. The blue nymph briefly looked around, searching for something in the chamber. "I will kill you," it finally said. The nymph raised one arm and it transformed into a sharp shining spike. It jumped into the air faster than Meadhbh could see and aimed to impale the fae queen.

"Mother!"

The three men jumped down the incline with their weapons raised. Steorra deflected the spike. Unintentionally, he sliced it and the spike turned to water that fell all over him and his mother. Ruairi pulled Meadhbh up and away from the scene.

"Gaetano, do something!" Ruairi screamed.

"My magic isn't working here!" He shot a dozen arrows at the nymph's blue face. They hit their target but the nymph was unfazed. The arrows rotted at a supernatural speed and turned to dust. The arrowheads were absorbed into its body.

Steorra ducked and parried all of the nymph's attacks unsure of how to kill it. He was not fighting a person but an animal. And probably immortal at that. The nymph moved like a cat with the ferocity of a lion.

"Munashe, we're not interested in immortality!" Meadhbh pulled away from Ruairi.

The nymph froze, perplexed by the words. "Then why are you here?"

Steorra backed away from the nymph towards his mother, placing himself like a true shield between it and the fae queen.

"We're here to warn you. Your mortal guardian, Chiemeka, Chikere's father, he's dead and Chikere doesn't fully understand his duties. He's doesn't know about the fountain."

"I know," it said. A flicker emotion passed through the nymph's face, something like mourning.

"Please, let's calm down. No weapons, no fighting. We're here to talk. We can't waste time, Munashe."

The nymph looked uneasily at Steorra. He sheathed his sword and held his empty hands up in peace. The others did the same.

"Something has been killing guardians of the fountains," Meadhbh stated.

"I know. Chiemeka included. They had to be killed." Munashe's spike turned back into an arm and she sat down cross-legged on the floor. Meadhbh approached her and did the same. Munashe closed her eyes tightly and sighed. Her eyes glowed with signs of entrancement. "_Know that this is not only Munashe speaking to you but the planet itself. Equilibrium is our goal, our duty, _your_ duty, Meadhbh. Something seeks to destroy that. It is many and methodical. We have no real name for it yet but they are four and they wish to do worst than what we have done. Killing Chiemeka and the other mortal guardians of the founts was the only way, the absolute way to ensure the future we want but this thing is smart._"

"What do you mean?"

"_These four, they are men and they are not bound by loyalty to anyone. They come from all over and they wish to destroy the balance of this planet. I do not mean the life cycle or the climate, they want to destroy us. The fairies, the witches, all the magic. They want all the magic for themselves._"

"But that's impossible. The only magic they could possibly take is fae magic. Witch magic is learned."

"_That is why they kill witches. They work by justifying their murders as the will of the Church, Meadhbh. We have been watching them for centuries but they are slowly gaining speed. They have a weapon that will decimate us all if they fully unleash it. They must be stopped._"

"What is this weapon?"

"_They have created something that is beyond the collective knowledge that we already have. We do not know how to explain it to you in your words._"

"How can you not know!?" Meadhbh shouted, unbelieving and scared.

"_We are the accumulation of all consciousnesses on this world and we have no name for the weapon for it has never been used like this before. We are the past, the present and future but there are no words in this current time's language to describe it to you._" Munashe spoke in broken words. "_In the sixth century, a sickness ravaged the Byzantine Empire. It will be like that. These four, they will come in the form of the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse. They want to rule the world by having all the magic._"

"The Apocalypse?!" Ruairi shouted.

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse were part of an apocalyptic prophecy from the Book of the Revelation of John, or the Apocalypse of John, in which God summoned them to wreak havoc on the world after the Jesus, the Lamb of God, takes the scroll from God and opens its seals. The four horsemen were representations of the first four seals Jesus had opened.

Gaetano put a hand on Ruairi's shoulder. "Do you mean to say that they are Pestilence, War, Famine and Death?"

"_Not Pestilence, _Conquest by Pestilence_. It will not be the end of world. Humans will still be here but all the magic will be gone if nothing is done. The weapon is a disease and it is already in the world. It is in Crimea already. Hundreds are dying by the day._"

"Then what do we do to stop this?" Steorra asked.

"_Kill them before they fully unleash it on the continent._"

"And if we can't?"

"_That is not an option._"

"But we can't stop a disease!"

Munashe grew silent at the obvious problem. They did not have the knowledge of the twentieth century or even the hygienic habits. They could not change a world overnight by telling them to bath regularly. Clean drinkable water was a commodity. There was not enough clean water in the world to support a clean world unless everyone lived at the ocean. "_There is no technology or knowledge in this world that can help you to stop it. If you kill the creators, the disease will stop. This disease is like a leech or a vampire or a hive of bees. It sucks you dry of your magic until you die and sends it to these four men. These men control it like a queen and her hive. If there is no queen, the hive will fall apart._"

"But what does this have to do with the fountains of youth?"

"_They want to rule the world, Meadhbh. They want to rule it forever._"

"And so they want a drink from the fountain of youth?"

"_Only one of them. Two of them are already immortal._"

Meadhbh swallowed hard. "How?"

"_We don't know. They all have different methods. We tried to send fairies after them_—" Fairies whose purpose were to kill like Ekene. "—_but failed. This is why we called you all to Sicilia. You are our last hope. You must do it for you own survival, Meadhbh. Steorra might survive but Nebula will not._" Meadhbh's hands flew to her mouth in fear.

Steorra dropped to his knees and wrapped his arms around his mother, to reassure her that he was still alive. "Mother, there's still a chance! Everything will be alright, Mama."

"Do these men have names?" Gaetano asked. Meadhbh became pale and almost incapable of continuing.

"_Many but one of them is currently Cipriano del Rossi._"

"Nebula!" Meadhbh screamed in horror.

"The priest?!" Steorra said outraged. "Goddammit, we left him in Sicilia! We have to move now!" He stood up ready to run back to the boat.

"And the other three?" Gaetano asked.

"_The one in Africa calls himself Anagan. The other two, we don't know the name but we know their appearance. Look._"

Munashe lifted a blue hand and the chamber was engulfed in light. Three men came to stand behind Munashe. The first man wore armour and chainmail with a white robe and cloak. Over his robe was a black cross. His shield was also white with a black cross and he held a long sword in his other hand. He had a mane of uncombed white blond hair and brown eyes. He had a strong jaw that belied a savage confidence and demon-like smile. They all recoiled at the sight of Kasimir Abendroth.

The second man, barely an adult, was a well-dressed noble or someone who was wealthy and, by the style of his clothes, mostly like French. He had chin-length strawberry blond hair and shrewd sickly yellow eyes. The third one was Anagan with his dark tattooed skin, long braided hair and ragged and torn robes and cloak.

With well-placed fear in their hearts, the four quickly set out for the ocean.

-

Aurora did not used to be a liar by character but her affinity and her duties required her to be. At times, those lines blurred and that scared her. She hoped that the fact that she suffered much insecurity about beauty and morality meant she was to some extent still human. Unfortunately, she did not have the comfort of time to mull over this dilemma.

She had said that she would go straight to Tir Nan Og and watch over Meadhbh's kingdom. All the fae queen wanted her to do was make sure that everything was in order. It was not a complete lie but she did take a small detour.

Aurora tangled a lock of hair between her fingers as she fluttered between trees in a winter-covered forest. She could feel that a heavy snowfall was coming judging from the dark sky.

Scratch that, she took a major detour. She had sailed across the ocean to the continent whose simple-minded people she grew to love and fear. She knew that it was only eminent that Europeans would cross the ocean and find this world and was not sure what to expect for the people who already lived there.

She was alone in the forest, having left her tower and fairy hive behind in the ocean.

She looked at the snow-covered ground for clues, looking for a trail that led to her quarry. There was frozen blood on the forest floor and she followed it. She sped through the familiar forests intently until she reached a campsite. There was a large roaring fire going in the center of a temporary settlement of the Algonquin camp surrounded by teepees. She landed somewhere in the middle of the camp, hoping to cause a stir. The fur clad men and women were cleaning their recent kill and weapons. All of them rose in alarm at her appearance.

She hoped she was not being dramatic but time was of the essence for her.

"Aurora?" one of them called out. This made her glad that they still recognized her after being gone for so long.

"Where is Sokanon?" she asked. Her eyes fell on every face around her. They were all silent. "Sokanon, where is she?" she repeated.

"I am here!" a young woman cried out cheerfully. "Aurora, it is good to see you." Sokanon crawled out of a tent, wearing heavy furs with a squirrel running around in her hood and a gray wolf dogging her feet. She had jet black hair, tanned skin and a vibrant smile.

Aurora felt muscles and wings relax. She had not realized that she was so nervous. The very fact that this fairy had not gone off rushing to Europe like every other magical being was both reassuring and saddening. Diana and her hive of fairies from the south were Aurora's literal polar opposite and they had moved to Africa after hearing the call. As she Aurora was Fairy of the North, Diana was the Fairy of the South. Aurora was the winter and Diana was summer, Aurora brought death and Diana continued life. The Bororo queen however preferred to call herself the Fairy of Nature as that was the true facet of her abilities.

There were not that many fairies in the two continents across the ocean as there were in Europe. There was never really a need for it for the humans knew how to coexist with nature with respect and awe. In some ways, they were infinitely smarter than their European neighbours by being more in tune to nature and living a simpler life. They did not separate or consider themselves better than the animals and plants and this was what made the people of this continent truly amazing.

Unfortunately, Sokanon now held the prestigious title of being the only fairy on the two uncharted continents: the Fairy of Animals. Aurora planned to keep it that way, even trap the girl on the continent with a curse for her titular heir could be the saviour of all magical beings on Earth.

So long as Sokanon stayed away from the center of conflict, even unaware of it, there was still hope for the future because the divine beings that had chosen her had worked too late to prevent the calamity that would come.

* * *

**Latter Note:** I realize that this entire journey is tiring but I want to publish this entire saga into the past so it gives the present a context (_unlike the show…_) and puts it into real world perspective. I am completely angered at the fact that the creators did not give a chronological context of how things came to be on Earth because apparently, the fairies weren't trapped in the White Circle until the modern times.

I'm not going to spoil it for anyone but Morgana survived the Fairy Holocaust until Roxy was born which is like the late 80s (I assume). The twist is that Faragonda (and Palladium) made a slide show in Alfea that explained the Black Circle appeared on Earth during the Arthurian times which are like during the Middle Ages (est. 500AD-1500AD). Faragonda implied that the magic disappeared during that time. Does anyone see that gap?

And yes, I realise that Sky is still a jerk!

EDIT: Wait, wait, wait! We know what 'calamity' we're talking about right? Y'know, Black Death...


	33. Chapter 33 Spread of Black Death

**Verboten  
****Chapter 33**

Thursday, February 18, 2010

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Winx Club.

**Fore Note:** RAWR!!!

* * *

Bladen regarded the beach before him. The boats had been anchored not far from the shore. They had been waiting, he and Shang. Everyone had gone ashore to look for the fountain of youth while they guarded the ship. Kasimir was just visible on the shore. On the deck, Shang looked up into the air, seeing something with his eagle-like vision.

"A phoenix?" He saw a fiery mass flying in the sky, shaped sort of like a bird.

Bladen shielded his eyes with his hand and looked for what the Chinese man saw. "No, a message from my son. It's only magic." The man raised an armoured arm for the bird to perch on. The orange-red bird extinguished its flames mid-flight and landed Bladen's arm. It clicked its beak several times and strode up his arm to whisper in his ear.

Bladen's eyes widened at the news as the bird evaporated into the air. "Nebula!" he said stricken with fear.

He quickly explained the now updated situation to Shang and both of them eyed the man with wary. The entire situation had changed and turned on them now. They looked to the Teutonic knight who was talking to a local.

They would have to move fast. Shang's eyes began to glow with power as he slowly faded away into dust into the air. The Chinese man nodded for him to make the first move and Bladen did. Unsheathing his sword, Bladen leapt the impossible distance between the boat and shoreline, soaring high in the air with his sword poised to stab the blond man straight into the chest. No amount of armour that Kasimir wore could stop Bladen's sword.

At the last moment, Kasimir turned out of the way and Bladen's sword dug itself into the soft sand. Bladen rolled into a landing and cursed. The tattooed black man Kasimir had been talking to backed away from the two warriors and Kasimir laughed demonically at the sudden development. He seemed to relish it and pulled out his own sword.

"And so it has begun!"

The clouds overhead were thick and gray and without warning, they thundered with blinding golden light and red sparks. Bladen looked up to the sky and feel the air sizzle with electricity. It rained blue balls of fire on the beach, all of them flying towards Kasimir. Bladen closed his eyes for fear of being blinded when the flames hit their target. There were several waves of heat that blew him off his feet.

A sandstorm rose and sand pelted his face. He summoned a magical barrier over himself and waited until the mess abated. He could see nothing through the sand and he hoped that Shang had hit his mark. Above him, the clouds were pockmarked with circles that the fireballs had evaporated.

The sand settled and the warrior looked for some sign of the enemy knight. Shang had really done it. The man had turned himself into a force of nature and rained fire on the man, burning him to death.

The beach was littered with chunks of cooling glass near the site of impact. A glassy crater was filling up with salt water trickling in from the ocean. Steam was rising from the pool. Bladen felt the ground tremble and crack from the sudden temperature change. The trembling worsened and molten rock flew out from the centre of impact. On instinct, Bladen dropped his sword and used both hands to raise a purple psionic wall between him and the lava. They made splatters across his wall and crashed to the ground into glowing chunks.

"Shang!" Bladen sweated from the intense heat and looked between the sky and the crater. The beach was like desert with the heat making mirages of pools of water.

A black smoke swirled from the crater and an insane laugh reverberated. The smoke coalescenced into Kasimir's body. He floated in the air with his arms crossed and his seared off-white cloak billowing in the wind. He ripped his cloak off and it fell into the water.

"Is that all?!" Kasimir taunted.

"We know who you are, Kasimir!"

"Throw everything at me! I am already immortal!"

Bladen's heart stopped at the news. He glanced at the sky for signs of Shang. Only an immortal could kill an immortal and Shang was immortal as far as he knew.

BOOM! The clouds burst out into a large white ring in the sky. Like a prolonged bolt of red and gold lightning hurling itself at the beach, a Chinese dragon dove down on Kasimir with its jaws wide open to eat the man. Before Kasimir could react, Shang swallowed the knight whole. Bladen jumped out of the way before he got hit by the beast. Shang glided onto the sand and coiled itself upon its coils. The dragon seemed to have no end to its long body.

Shang turned his head to face Bladen and growled gruffly. The dragon was Shang's true form.

"I have eaten him," Shang said. His voice was only heard in Bladen's mind.

"Will it kill him?"

"It will—in a week."

Shang's head stiffened and he convulsed and writhed violently as he struggled to keep his mouth closed. At the last moment, he opened his mouth and spat fire and a black and purple smoke into the forests. Shang roared in pain and began to set fire to the entire forest.

"Shang, what are you doing?!" Bladen took flight to get out of the way.

"He's poisoned me!" he screamed.

"What?!"

The black and purple smoke rose over the forest like a cloud and encircled them. They recognized the lethal miasma that would drain them of magic and finally destroy their bodies. Bladen threw a bubble over himself. Shang coiled himself around Bladen in a tight circle to make his own barrier with his body. Surprisingly, the miasma casually circled around Shang's dragon body, not intent to go after Shang.

"The miasma will not touch me. I am more beast than magic."

"What about the poison?"

"I cannot feel that anything is happening."

"I don't like that!" The warrior looked up the sky. They had been enshrouded in darkness so deep that they could not see the sky above. They were blinded from all sides out of fear from the disease.

They waited, fearing the worst would happen. The worst that Kasimir could do was set fire to the boats, destroying their only way home.

Minutes passed by like hours, slowly and torturously. Bladen concentrated on keeping his barrier up. They thought that they could finish off Kasimir by themselves because of course they had a semi-immortal dragon on their side. Dragons were by nature more animal than magical being with a hide tough as metal, venomous teeth, the ability to breathe fire and great intelligence. Dragons were not magical by nature unless the dragon practiced magic like humans. Other than that, they were like any other beast in the world, just marvelous as Indian elephants.

How wrong and badly thought out this plan was. It had been pretty simple and simplest plan was always the most effective one but Kasimir proved to be more powerful than they had thought and his disease much more of a threat than the cold.

The ground shook again and there was the sound of something exploding. The miasma was lifted, blown away by a godly wind.

Shang and Bladen came face to face with the ocean and beheld a terrifying sight: the boats had been destroyed. They were fully engulfed in fire with halos of black smoke rising to meet the sky. Rubble floated on the ocean's surface with several dozen men treading water and one by one, dropping into the depts. Some of them managed to stay up with the help of mermen or latching on to wreckage. The water was stained black with blood and tar. The tar was slowly catching on fire.

Before Bladen could register another thought, he found himself flying into the sand feeling as if he had been kicked by a horse. His head was ringing and his felt that he had broke a rib in that hit. He called his sword to his hand and it flew across the sand and over Shang's coils into his open hand.

What the hell had that been?! An invisible force, or some purple blur, had hit him. He turned around and tried to get up as fast as he could despite the pain. He grunted and used his sword as a support. Breathing was becoming a struggle and his head was spinning.

"Where are you, bastard?!" Bladen roared. He regretted it instantly as he doubled over. He fell back against Shang's hard red scales and slid to the ground in pain.

Shang looked into the sky with his eagle eyes and spotted Kasimir flying from the wreckage. The dragon shot himself into the air in an attempt to maul him again. Kasimir saw the beast's hungry intent and veered to the right. Shang veered after him and begun a pursuit after the flying morsel of human meat. Shang chased him into the clouds.

Bladen watched the pursuit. It was almost beautiful the way Shang chased the dark wizard. There was nothing violent about it. It seemed natural like a predator chasing his prey. His long body swirled in the air in an indescribable fashion, making impossible shapes.

He relaxed, trying to alleviate the pain in his rib but at the last moment, something warned him to throw up a barrier. A bolt of lightning ricocheted off his shield and hit the sand, making it fly and visually blinding him from the new attacker.

Bladen cursed in pain. Who would attack him?!

The sand settled and Bladen looked up to see a dark mass approaching him. The man wore rags. He had tanned skin and his hair was in braids. He had the body of farmer. His arms were painted with tattoos that Bladen recognized as written spells used to protect oneself from the repercussions of messing with forbidden magic. He recognized him as Anagan and he was probably the man Kasimir had been talking to.

"You must be a wizard," Anagan said. "Let me end your suffering." He lifted a hand and a sword materialized in his hand.

Bladen shot a blast of energy at him. Without warning, Anagan vanished into thin air and bolt headed straight for the sand. The next moment, Bladen was rolling in the sand, having been kicked by Anagan in face at superspeed.

"As I was saying. Go quietly and it'll save us both the trouble."

The warrior groaned in pain. His jaw felt painful and dared not to test whether or not it was still connected. His whole body was reeling in pain from being hit with impossible forces. _Et __ne nos inducas in tentationem, sed libera nos a malo_, he prayed. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

-

As they say, "_Deus vult._" God wills it.

The cruel wizard kicked the pitiful man onto his back. Bladen wheezed. Anagan raised the sword up, aiming to behead him and watch the body writhe without a head until Kasimir would return.

In the distance, Gaetano shot five cursed arrows in quick succession into Anagan's body. From his vantage over the trees, the Italian had hit the mark spot on and the black wizard had fallen stiff to the ground. The arrows were cursed to cause bodily paralysis.

There was a rush of people out of the burnt forest. Delirious, Bladen was glad that his last sight was of his wife looking over him.

Meadhbh worked her healing magic on her husband, cradling like a baby. For a moment, she almost cried until she remembered where she was. There would be time for tears later. She left her husband in the capable hands of another fairy and broke through the protective circle, striding to Anagan and brandishing her own sword. Emotions had taken their toll on her and she was ready to end it.

Anagan laid on his side, like a figure frozen in a motion. His eyes were wide in shock and his mouth contorted in an inhuman scream. One arrow was deeply embedded in his arm, two in his side and another two in his chest. He was bleeding blood on to the sand and his clothes, making a thick mess.

Something primal inside her was aroused by the blood. She was seeing red everywhere. Her husband was in God knows what state, her daughter was possibly dead and her son was the only thing that she knew she had left for sure. She let out a bone-chilling scream, akin to a harpy's and slammed her sword into his face. Blood spurted and the man's eyeballs popped out of their socket. His body disintegrated into dust and flew with the wind.

She fell to her knees with her tiger wings flattened against her back, marking her grief.

"Queen Meadhbh, Bladen needs you." Someone shook her shoulder and pointed to her husband. She was at his side instantly.

He whispered haltingly. "The…black mist."

"Don't speak, my love!" Meadhbh placed her forehead against his, telepathically connecting.

STAY AWAY FROM THE MIST! he roared and Meadhbh recoiled at the strength of his thoughts. He raised a weak hand, indicating a purple and black patch in the sky.

Meadhbh regarded the miasma, her face devoid of colour. Was that the pestilence? She saw the burning boats and saw no hope there. She looked to the sky where an angry Shang was descending towards them. He had not caught Kasimir. He coiled himself around the crowd of magical beings protectively.

The mist dove down on them like a snake and surrounded them. Everyone tightened into the circle, fearful of it.

"A barrier now!" Drained and tired, she screamed, "Charmycks!" She glowed with warm white energy. A gentle breeze caressed her being. A shower of lights circled her head and formed a white metal circle that shone like a halo.

Rejuvenated like drinking a powerful brew, she took off her halo and held it up about her. She could think clearer now. There was no way that they would get out of this alive unless they ran right now. They need to leave and take a strategic retreat.

She closed her eyes and concentrated. She magically broke everyone into their most basic components and stored them in a pocket dimension in her circlet. Everyone had disintegrated into the glowing particles and surrounded her. She poured them into her circlet and finally broke herself and went in. The inside was an exact replica of Tir Nan Og during the spring.

The silver halo dropped into the sand. It glowed and started to spin, floating in the air and humming with magic. Within the blink of an eye, it vanished to Sicilia.

-

Morgana did not know what had her in such a knot but something innate was telling her to look up to the sky constantly. It was annoying. She could not name it but something was not right. Something had gone wrong somewhere in the universe and she had to tell someone. She just did not know what had gone wrong. She was talking an afternoon walk to clear her mind about many things. Like why she didn't have any kidsor why was she being so picky about finding a husband. She had prospects but she just could not see her going down the aisle.

Before she knew what was going on, there was a flash of energy and white searing light and Morgana held Meadhbh's white circlet in her hands. Upon recognition, she dropped it and gasped like it had burned her. Next, there was an explosion of people and one dragon.

Everything happened in a blur to Morgana. She could not understand what was going on but as soon as her eyes fell on Meadhbh and Bladen, she jumped into action stumbling towards her queen and her consort.

"What happened?!" she cried out.

"GET BACK!!!" Meadhbh roared and psychically sent Morgana flying back. "Find Rafa, tell nobody what happened here. Only Rafa. Stay away from Cipriano. Go!" she ordered from a distance. Meadhbh was disturbingly pale and her breathing was rapid. Bladen held her tightly.

Incapable of thinking for herself at the moment, Morgana did not question her orders and did as she told. Within the hour, a tent was erected over the meadow by what gypsies were present in the village. Morgana sat herself at the entrance of the tent, unsure of what was next. Her heart was racing and she was just confused.

Nebula stood beside Morgana, looking at her for guidance. Rafa exited the tent in hurry and Nebula flew to him with her questions.

Inside, Rafa kneeled between Bladen and Meadhbh's cots. The entire tent was like giant sickroom for magical people. Rafa practiced no magic and so he should have been safe. Meadhbh hoped her daughter was fine. The fact that Morgana was alive and had caught her circlet surely meant that Nebula was fine.

"I need paper and ink. I need to write down everything I know, Rafa." Meadhbh curled in her blanket. Her wings were discoloured, showing her condition.

Rafa nodded and did as she said.

Four days later, 95 of the 124 magical beings in the tent had died, including Meadhbh.

Far from the village, a deep trench had been created where several fires were kept burning all day. Morgana held Nebula tightly as the fae queen's body was carried out unceremoniously on a stretcher towards the ever burning bonfires. A crown of flowers was placed on top of the linen sheet that was covering Meadhbh's body.

Nebula collapsed to her knees, holding herself. She felt sick, terrified, alone, desperate. She wanted her brother and her father. They were alive still but it felt like it was only eminent. She felt her stomach tighten at the sight of the flames. Nebula vomited and cried.

"I-I knew that this would happened!" she screamed. Rafa and Ruairi threw Meadhbh's body into the fire. Her wings burned to ashes like autumn leaves, showing the thin rudimentary structures.

Morgana gently brought Nebula into her arms and held her, uncertain of the future.

The memory ended abruptly and exploded into darkness.

-

Roxy woke up to a crowded room of people, her recently made friends.

"Don't talk. Give it a moment," Chandra said gently.

Roxy's eyes darted around the room, going from face to face and the memories rushed in like water in a broken dam. She recoiled in fear. Her breathing came in hurried gasps. Everyone made no move towards her. Roxy took in her surroundings, looking at the ceiling the separating curtains on both sides, her hospital gown, the intravenous tube in her arm, the drip feeding her and the beeping monitors.

Something seemed off.

Her eyes fell on her father's face. She took in his ragged state. He was unshaved, his hair was uncombed, his clothes wrinkled and his arm in a sling. She immediately started to sob and cry.

* * *

**Latter Note:** Writing that was really scary on so many levels but I feel so much better getting all of that out of the way. I acknowledge the fact that there are a lot of questions but it's up to you interpret what happened. You have the facts, real like the Black Plague killed about 450 million people and fictional like that Morgana is the Fairy Queen. I just filled in the events prior to that.

Spoiler: Morgana traps everyone in the White Circle.


	34. Chapter 34

**Verboten  
****Chapter 34**

February 22, 2010

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the Winx Club. If I did, I would be completely floored. I also don't own Star Ocean.

**Fore Note:** CassandraofLight and sarastarr, thank you for reviewing.

* * *

Roxy cried and cried and cried. Chandra provided ample boxes of tissues for her and a chair for her father who sat beside the bed. The Indian-like woman nodded and stood in the background. There were so many things that wanted to be said but they needed to take this slowly. Klaus was still reeling from the last week. These weird teenagers and their supernatural powers, this military operation and the surreality of it. What was he supposed to make of it all? Had all of this started because of his daughter?

He had been brought up to speed about the Black Circle and their intentions so far for his daughter and he felt helpless about the entire situation. Why was this happening to his daughter? Why his family?

Klaus moved to sit beside Roxy and placed his good arm around and rubbed her back. It was all he could do. At first, he had been righteously angry that Roxy had not told him about this but he could see how she would have hesitated. Now, he just wanted to be there for her. To tell her he loved her.

Roxy wrapped her arms around her father tightly, desperate for comfort. "D-daddy…!" she stuttered.

"It's okay, Roxy. I'm here."

"I-I-I…I'm sorry, I didn't mean to—! Bloom and Sky and everyone, I didn't, I don't know how—"

"Shh, shh, shh, it's fine. I know everything."

"I-I-I…but I didn't want…"

"Roxy, your life is my business. You're still my child, fairy or not." Klaus motioned for her to take another tissue and clean her face. "I love you"

"You're not m-mad?"

"No," he said softly. "I don't know how it happened but I know you're my daughter. Everything will be alright, kiddo, I promise."

Chandra let the father and daughter settle their problems for a good while. She wanted to talk to them immediately but her conscience said that they needed this and so, she left, only coming back to offer dinner and finally, a bed for the father to sleep in overnight.

-

"What do you mean Sky bought the shop?!" Bloom wailed. "We can't be closing! What about the business?!" The fire princess had been debriefed on the going-ons of the shop while she had run away after she had explained her strange journey in Roxy's mind.

They had concluded that the historic Black Death had killed all of the magical beings, which also explained the name Black Circle. The bubonic plague was characterized with buboes, swelled lymph nodes that looked like dark rings from the dead cells after necrosis.

"Bloom, listen, he is ready to forcibly throw us into the next portal if he has to," Tecna reasoned.

"But why?!"

"It's because of what happened to Roxy."

"But it wasn't supposed to happen! I didn't mean to give it to her! And you let him buy the store?!"

The Winx Club girls were all huddled on couch away from the busy stations of the warehouse. So many things were happening that it was hard to keep up. Sky had bought the shop's building and he had wanted them off-planet as soon as possible. What the hell?!

"The city records were tampered, Bloom. Sky probably had it hacked."

"What is he thinking?! Can't you hack it back? How is he going to defend Roxy without magic?"

"Sky isn't exactly without magic, y'know," Brandon interjected carefully. The squire walked up to their motley group, accompanied by the other specialists Timmy and Riven and the musician Andy. It seemed like they were escorting the guitarist.

Andy was in a fairly confused state but he was physically fine. He was not handcuffed or anything but he knew better than to resist the specialists.

Brandon continued. "And you don't need a store to protect Roxy. The wizards already know who you are so there's no point in hiding. Sky has witches and wizards working for him. And not to be mean but some of them are actually trained to fight with magic. We do think, though, that you need to say something to this guy."

Timmy pointed to Andy who looked even more confused than ever.

"Jesus, um, it's not…"

"Ohmigod, Andy! I forgot about you! I-I—" Bloom stuttered.

"Really, it's okay." Andy held up his hand. Suddenly, he saw everyone in different eyes. No one was human, or from Earth at least. They were all alien but they all looked so human.

"Seriously though," Riven started, "Try being a little more vague with the details next time."

"There won't be a next time right, Bloom?" Brandon said, as if pushing her into a precarious situation.

"Brandon?!" Stella said. "Let off! You know it wasn't her fault. What do you need to pressure her for?"

"Because we don't want it to happen again. Do you know what the highest penalty breaking the UP3?"

UP3 stood for Underdeveloped Planet Protection Pact. The UP3 was a treaty aimed at protecting planets with civilisations that were not yet fully developed; a prime example was Earth whose magic capacity was non-existent. Laws strictly prohibited contact with such civilisations unless there was an emergency. The UP3 was put in place because contact with higher civilisations would greatly alter the history and culture of the planet.

"Death. Death for tampering the development of a society. Earth is nothing, barely even a newborn child in its potential to grow," Brandon said.

"But Andy is one person!"

"And it better stay like that."

"Are you threatening me?" Bloom raged.

"Only making you clear of the law."

"Yeah, well what about us, staying on this planet right?! Aren't we breaking the law, too?"

Riven rolled his eyes, like he expected the typical response. "Bloom, we don't exist. We are invisible. The pact doesn't apply to us because it's voided in our favour. We're here on a mission to stop the Black Circle, as Sky said, from achieving immortality which is considered unnatural unless it's given to you by the Dragon itself. The wizards can travel to Magix which puts them as superior and smarter than the rest of Earth. If they're bent on world domination by using technology and magic not from Earth, it's breaking the UP3. We're here to prevent that. You can say goodbye to any Earth history if that happens."

Bloom's face became somber as she took in Riven's harsh truth. No matter the fact that Earth was her home, it had a rich culture and history that would only be destroyed in a nanosecond if it ever caught whiff of Magix. Earth would just assimilate the culture there and history would just stop being written. Earth was nothing compared to Magix and all the other planets she had visited. Modern Earth was primitive in the race for superior technology.

"Bloom, there are much more important things than your business venture on Earth," Brandon said.

Bloom stayed silent for a minute. After futilely running away for a few days, the problems had only worsened.

"I just can't believe he did that," she said.

"It's not the end of the world," Stella reassured. "We can always come back."

On a purely feminine level, Bloom felt like she was being controlled by a man and she hated it. When she got to know Sky in Magix, he had something that was a little bit of an annoying gallant side him. He seemed to be of the mind that females, mainly the witches and fairies of CT and Alfea, were of the weaker sex sometimes because they seemed so reliant on magic to solve their problems.

On a purely feminine level, she had been charmed by his chivalrous personality that she thought was shining through that, mistaking it for some type of archaic upbringing.

"He's doing so that there aren't future problems. You can't run a business while on a mission. It just doesn't work like that. If you want to help Sky or even Roxy, he needs you on call anytime of the day," Brandon said.

"And what about your jobs?" Musa countered testily.

"They're only a front to stay near Roxy. We don't really care if we get fired," Riven replied.

"You're not serious?"

Timmy interrupted abruptly. "Well, my job at Google is only so that I have easier access to information on this planet. I get the best publically available maps all over the world. Most of the worlds pertinent information is digital so I can hack it or piggyback a live stream. Information changes daily and the first place to notice it is usually on Google seeing as how a lot of Earthlings are dependent on it. Since I'm familiar with the Earth system, I don't really need to stay with them anymore."

"Whoa, you work for frickin' _Google_?!" Andy exclaimed.

"…yeah." Timmy glanced to the side, slightly uncomfortable.

"Anyways, it just makes our stay on Earth much more easier," Brandon continued.

"But what do we do when we leave? Go back to Alfea and keep teaching while guys are here? You can't expect us to do that."

"Then go home and wait for us to come back or go back to school and get stronger," Sky said. He came striding across the concrete floor with his brows arched angrily and lips in a thin line. "You saw it yourself that Griselda's magical defense classes aren't going to cut it against the wizards. They're over seven hundred years old at least, a lot older than Icy, Darcy and Stormy's twenty-four and a lot more powerful."

"Ugh! Sky, take a _freaking_ pill!" Musa yelled. "We know what we're up against! We know when to fight and when to run. We're not stupid, especially after dealing with Baltor and Mandragora. Could you give us women some credit and be positive for once in your bleeping life?"

"Oh _funny_, Musa. I am being positive. In fact, this is the most positive I've ever been all week ever since the super computer got turned on and received a galactic signal an hour ago. And guess what?!" the king said in a preppy sarcastic voice, "I got to check my email, my voicemail and even my actual mail that my person assistant in Eraklyon scanned and emailed to me! The Trix are easy picking compared to the Black Circle."

"What?" Musa said. Everyone turned to Sky in unison.

"What do you mean 'are?'" Riven said.

"I have wonderful news."

* * *

**Latter Note:** Oh God, what am I doing? I can't even come up with a comment for the hell or awesomeness (debatable?) that I'm about to unleash. I wanted to tie up that loose end anyways ever since season four disappointed me with their lack of appearance.

And do you know how embarrassing this it that I'm still writing this continuously every night for the last ten months? Look where it is now! Gawd, I don't have a life at all.

The UP3 is straight from Star Ocean, the game. Awesome game.

Now, I'm going to blatantly pimp two forums that you should visit if you want to become a better writer: **Winx Writers Anonymous** and **Winx Fiction Tips and Advice**, both forums are by Stills and Photographs. They can be found in the forums for Winx Club. Everyone is pretty much a seasoned writer who knows what they're talking about when they say, "It's a good idea." I think most of us are over the age of seventeen (me being the youngest, I think besides Secret Keys).

For writers who are starting out, I suggest that you bounce your ideas off real people who are very devoted to writing. Not good at it, but DEVOTED to it. (Your best friends and family don't count.)

For your first story, don't expect to write something as epic as Verboten. It just won't happen. What I have written here in the last thirty-four chapters is an accumulation of my experiences so far in life (including the military aspects of this story).

Please, feel free to browse all my older pieces of work (that I consider crap and should be burned) to get an idea of my evolution as a writer. Some people delete their stuff, I keep mine painfully in my face to remind me of what I was. I don't even know what I was doing when I was thirteen sometimes. I was a very moody slightly suicidal child at the time so beware.


	35. Chapter 35 Goodbye

**Verboten  
****Chapter 35**

Wednesday, March 3, 2010; reposted Saturday, April 24, 2010

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Winx Club or Stargate. (I know, what is this girl thinking?)

**Fore Note:** It's long, this chapter. You might have to read this in two sittings.

* * *

Everyone stood in the Red Fountain headmaster's office, a simulation of it at least in the magical reality chamber. The Winx Club had never visited it before since there had never been a need for it and they were completely awed at how different it was from Faragonda and Griffin's. There were no forbidden spellbooks, no bubbling cauldrons, no warming feeling of being welcomed or being able to tell your darkest secrets confidentially to the headmaster either.

Saladin's office was big and modern, contrasting with the headmaster's wizardly appearance. His office screamed industrial plainness, monotone, straight-edged, clean cut and meant for work, not learning. The chamber had cathedral ceilings that went on forever into the shadows. Stone dragons stood vigilantly in the rafters, ready to judge them truthful or not with their razor sharp claws and jaded eyes. The room was long, almost the size of a large class room with the headmaster's desk at the far end. Everything was painted varying shades of blue, green and silver and dragon motifs were abundant. It was a war room.

Before the Winx Club and specialists was a long glass meeting table and two dozen expensive ergonomic swivel chairs, fitted to give military briefings and have staff meetings. Parallel to the table was a wall made of glass, looking outside to Magix, the lake and Alfea. The floating building was evidently rotating as the Magix was slowly making its way to the other end of the room.

"Physical space is synchronized," someone blared out on an intercom. "May I patch in the speakers, sir?"

"Yes," Sky said.

"Why I do believe that you've gotten taller," a voice said from behind.

Everyone turned.

"Ms. F!" Stella squealed and reached to hug the elderly woman.

All of the girls huddled around the fairy headmistress. Bloom herself could cry. Faragonda had been like her second mom in Magix, helping her to find out who and what she was. Bloom wiped her tears with the back of her hand and hugged the woman.

Confused, Bloom backed away staring at her hands. She could feel the cotton of Faragonda's blazer and the pressure of Faragonda's arms around her. "Wait, you're not actually here, are you?"

"No, those are only simulated sensations from the chamber," Faragonda said.

Behind Faragonda, Griffin flickered into being. Her face was stern as ever. "Good to see you ladies again."

Saladin came next and he strode past all of them with his staff tapping the linoleum floor. He went straight to business. "Boys, you know the drill. Ladies, please take a seat and face the front of the room where my desk is." Saladin glanced at everyone individually. "Where is my grandson?"

"He's in the MIR recuperating, sir," Sky said. "He'll be fine in a couple of days."

Everyone was inside the magical reality chamber on Earth, which was fitted to simulate a real-time meeting. In Magix, Saladin, Faragonda and Griffin were feeling and seeing simulations of the Winx Club and specialists and vice versa for those on Earth.

Bloom got goosebumps as the curtains automatically slid out from the sides and covered the windows and the lights dimmed. A rectangular holographic projection appeared at the front with the Red Fountain interlaced triquetra in the background.

"I assume that your computer just went online recently," Saladin said to Sky.

"Only an hour ago about."

"I sent that message two and half a weeks ago—it's better late than never then. I'll get to my point. We know that the Trix are still out there. Guard patrol around the lake at the time of Valtor's defeat was serious bad planning on my part. After they flew out of the fissure, a squad was deployed to shoot them down dead. We only chased them for a few minutes before they created a portal and escaped. We failed to trace the other end of the portal and well, they're still at large.

"Three weeks ago, there was a possible sighting of Stormy in the realm of Neicheusia." On the holographic screen, Stormy's outdated profile picture and information appeared.

"Stormy? You have to be kidding me!" Stella said. There were similar groans from everyone else.

"Neicheusia, that's a daemon realm, isn't it?" Riven said, "Aren't they the secretive kind of people? They don't allow foreigners on their planet without special permission."

"I can understand what you're getting at. Neicheusians aren't exactly known for understanding. They're a very primitive back-to-nature sort of people when it comes to their beliefs but they are first class in magic."

"Sneaky religious lunatics, right?"

"Daemons are politically neutral unless the Great Dragon or their four high priests will it, Riven," Saladin corrected. He turned to everyone else. "Have any of you ever dealt with daemons?"

"Yeah," Sky said. "Social niceties."

Timmy nodded as well. "My mother does business with them."

"Wait, _demons_?" Bloom asked. "We're talking about evil beings like the Devil, right?"

"No, Bloom," Faragonda said, "_Daemons_—with an A but pronounced the same way. It means 'divine power' in the old languages just as _fatum_, the root word for fairy, means 'fate.' The daemons are servants of the Great Dragon as a fairy is a servant of her affinity."

Bloom nodded as she took in the new tidbits of information. Then she realized something. "And what about me? I have the Dragonfire."

"You're a fairy, dear. You have fairy wings and you can think for yourself."

"Oh."

"I can tell that you're not understanding."

Bloom shook her head. "They can't think for themselves?"

"Daemons have a hard time grasping the concept of individuality. They have it but they have different ways of seeing things. They have a sort of hive mind and usually consult the mind at large when it comes to important decisions."

"So like a beehive? Why haven't I heard of them?"

"It's better off if you don't actually hear from them because it means that universe is not about to collapse," Griffin said in her rasping voice. "As servants of the Dragon, their role is equally important as yours, Bloom which is to be physical vessel of the Flame."

"But what about the Trix stealing my powers or invading Magix?"

"As I said, as long as the universe is not about to collapse. There is no point in looking back in history and criticizing them. The final outcome is the final outcome."

Bloom found this extremely hard to accept. It was not some dormant race that had hidden themselves from the world but a race that had always been there but away from public eyes. It felt outrageously anticlimactic, like when she had seen her first mermaid on Tides.

A typical image of some red-skinned creature with a cloven hooves and horns came to mind. "What do daemons look like?"

"They look like you and me," Faragonda said. "Let's let Saladin continue before this becomes a class. Last time I checked, you graduated."

Bloom rearranged the image in her mind to look like a typical person. She could not help but embellish the image with something a little evil like Darko's evil knaving smile or Diaspro's charming personality. Oh wait…Diaspro has the excuse of being messed up in the head since she was a child after being kidnapped by Yoshinoya. Bloom sneaked a glance at Sky at the thought.

The elderly headmaster continued. "Thank you. Daemons have their own way of seeing things. Overall, they're law-abiding and they usually work with us. Stormy's sighting was reported by a daemoness called Nina."

"Just Nina?" Brandon said.

"Nina 'of Neicheusia,' satisfied?"

"No last name?"

"None. It was basically an anonymous tipoff but she brought proof with her so that's all that matters. She even came in through the administration so we have an idea of what she looks like on camera and a way to contact her. She gave us a very peculiar piece of video from what looks like a security camera."

Individual holographic screens came to life in front of everyone. Bloom recoiled back in her seat surprised. A loading symbol came on and it vanished into an ornate parlour with gilded couches, carved tables and plush rugs. Whosever house this was was evidently well off. The camera was angled from high up, as if it were hidden on top of a shelf. One wall was lined with glass double doors so it might have been a castle or big piece of property. The most peculiar part of the room was the centre attraction: a large clicking wooden loom. A woman sat at it weaving bright colours and humming a tune.

The woman's back was to the camera but she had long dark hair and wore a grey gown.

"Who is this woman?" Brandon asked.

"Just listen."

The sound of doors opening and closing was heard and a figure walked in, standing beside the loom. It was another woman. She wore dark skinny jeans tucked into a pair of knee-high boots and dark pink tube top under a maroon red leather jacket. She had wavy hair that reached the middle of her back. It parted near her left with a curled lock of lilac. Her hair bounced as if a cloud was following her.

Everyone waited expectantly to hear Stormy's voice.

Instead, the woman at the loom spoke first. "I know who you are. Don't tell me. Weather witch who wants to apprentice herself to an older wiser witch so that she can learn and improve her powers, Stormy? Is that your story?"

Almost imperceptibly, Stormy's shoulders straightened in surprise.

The weaver continued, "I have no use for an heir. You've come far from Magix and straight into forbidden territory. I am not intimidated by the fact that you decided to sneak onto Neicheusia to break into my home hoping to impress me with your magical prowess. I knew that you were coming and I let you in.

"Is your grandmother in your head whispering for you to kill me while you have the chance, Stormy? She wants to be the top weather witch again?"

At this, everyone's eyes narrowed at the strange figure of speech.

Stormy was silent but her face was defiant.

"Do you even remember why you're doing this again? Is it so that you can rule the realms? Was that ever your dream? Oh how it is to be young again, _Cosima_. Was is the Dragonfire? The idea of absolute power, the ability to create and uncreate everything in the universe."

Stormy took a step back at the mention of the new name. Questions were buzzing through everyone's mind.

The loom stopped clicking and the weaver stood up. She turned to Stormy. "You underestimate me, Cosima. I can tell when two consciousnesses are fighting for one body. I can see you shadowing your granddaughter. Leave now while you still have a body. You may be powerful but Stormy's body will not be able to handle your magic, or mine."

Stormy's hands curled at her side. "One day," Stormy spoke. Bloom's blood turned to ice as weather witch's deep voice flooded Saladin's office. There was no questioning the voice. "One day, Verena, I will kill you with my own two hands in my own proper body and I will enjoy it."

Stormy turned and left the screen. A door opened and shut violently. The video ended with a blank black screen.

It was a good minute before anyone spoke. Saladin waited patiently.

"So they're back?" Bloom squeaked.

"From the sounds of it, yes," Faragonda said.

"But nothing has happened that says it was them Stormy went to a witch that she thought was better than her to learn and obviously, get more power. That was the only proof that they even still exist," Griffin continued.

"How do you know that that's not a fake? It could be all a hoax," Stella said. Somewhere deep inside, she was hoping that.

"Are you joking, Stella?" Griffin said gruffly. "How many weather witches with purple hair want to be named Stormy after the last five years?"

Stella became silent, glancing away from Griffin.

"So what do we do?" Tecna asked.

Faragonda rested her chin on her hands, deep in thought. "Return to Alfea. Cover all of bases. The Codex, Shadowhaunt, Downland, Omega, the Agador Box. They're obviously going to want to come back after you girls. If not, at least Bloom and her family. The royal family has been alerted of this video but they're keeping it quiet."

"Who's Cosima?" Layla asked, replaying the video in front of her. She could not believe what she was hearing. "This doesn't make sense. Verena calls her Stormy and switches to Cosima."

"Verena, the woman, is most likely referring to Cosima—Stormy's grandmother."

Flora gasped. "Wait, you don't mean…Cosima, one of the witches that…?"

"That's the only way," Faragonda said.

"I don't understand!" Bloom said. "I destroyed them with Obsidian and Mandragora! How's it possible?!"

"No matter the how of it, something must be done," Saladin said. "We can't waste time on those questions when have the future to worry about. I'm sorry, girls, you are going to have to return to Alfea as soon as possible." There was no room for arguing in the Red Fountain headmaster's urgent voice.

-

Suppertime was a quiet and private affair with the Winx Club and specialists. It was full of unspoken and unrequited emotions. It was all going down the proverbial drain. The relationships were tensioning to the breaking point. Of everyone's problems, it was just a conflict of interest. The boys wanted their mission objectives completed first and the girls wanted various things from Musa and her music with Jason Queen to Stella and her Mitzi problem to Bloom and Sky's differing goals. A gap was forming between everyone and everyone knew it.

Tonight was the last night, the last chance to do something about it and it was Musa who made the first move. It was really an innocent thing and there was no way that Riven could get mad at her for it in anyway possible.

Musa had caught him walking away from the central social mess into the warehouse's sleeping areas and she had decided to follow him to spend a couple of last private moments together before they separated. Riven turned to the right and into a barrack.

She found him kneeling in front of a black army-issued barrack box, fumbling with the combination lock.

"Hey," he said to her without looking. In a moment, the lock clicked open and he opened the box.

Curious, Musa peeked over him. There was barely anything in there except for some wrinkled clothing and other essentials. Riven pulled out roll of bandage, a bottle of ointment and a basic first aid kit and placed it all on top of the barrack box after closing it. He stood up and looked down at her. At full height, he towered over her and maybe that was why she liked him. She did not want textbook chivalry and honour, she wanted something big to suffocate and envelop her (and maybe just a tad bad).

"What are you doing?" she asked, suddenly forgetting what she had followed him for.

"Changing my bandages," he said aloofly. A thick bandage was still around his neck and one of his hands was completely covered. He had burns from the encounter with Bloom near Follonica.

"Shouldn't you get Artos or Chandra or at least another person to do that?"

"They have better things to do than waste their time dealing with me."

"They're professional! They're trained to do it."

"This is basic first aid, Musa. I know how to do it, too."

"You have second degree burns!"

Riven reached for the helm of his shirt and pulled it over his head. "Then do it for me, why don't you?"

"Fine!"

Musa eyes were trained on Riven's back as he turned to throw his shirt on a bed. His muscles bulged underneath his taunt skin but it was the skin that scared her the most. She had never seen this before. His back was like haphazardly stitched and worn leather. She was not expecting it to be flawless like a god but not as damaged as she was seeing it either. There were old stitched scars that there was no way Riven could have gotten them unless he had been voluntarily laying down on the ground. They were not whip marks from punishment or wounds from a battle. The cuts were too clean and precise and recent. They had to have been recent.

Riven sat on the barrack box, unwrapping the bandage around his neck, revealing red-hued skin. He threw the used one in the garbage, opened the bottle of ointment and handed it to her.

"Put this on the back of my neck." Riven turned so that his back was to her.

She grabbed the bottle with a nervous hand and poured the ointment into her hand. She poured a little too much, not expecting it to run like water. She sloshed some on him and began to rub it in gently. Normally, there would have been a flirty gibe with this situation but she found that that was not quite appropriate.

"Riven, what happened to you

"Cosmetic surgery," he said indifferently, as if there was no emotional weight to it.

No, he had to be lying. As if Riven was one for aesthetics and beauty.

"Don't lie. I can tell."

"I'm not. I saw a doctor and he said that my wounds could have healed a certain way so that the scarring was minimal and I let him have a go at it. It's not bad."

Musa's hand froze. "That's stupid."

"It's a lot better than before."

"From what?"

"My stupid life. I did a lot of things."

"Like what?" she pried.

"Forget it. I don't want to think about it. That's enough. We can put the bandages."

Musa watched the red skin disappear under the dressing, which she was happy for but not the pink scars that were steadily healing. It was very rare that she saw any part of him physically. He was usually in his uniform or in full plain clothes. It was rare that he took off his shirt for anything but this was more than she wanted to see. She was tempted to touch them but thought better of it.

Instead, she slipped her arms around him from behind. "You need to learn to talk. I don't know what happened but you can't keep it in forever. No one can, Riven."

She fixed the bandage secure around his neck and they moved on to his hand. While he busied himself with that (evidently, he did not need help for it), Musa spied his cell phone among the first aid kit. With his back to her, she pocketed the phone after remembering her original intentions and helped him with the rest of replacing his bandages. Finally, they proceeded to supper.

Everyone was at supper save for Flora and Helia, who were eating in the MIR. Flora was concerned as Helia could not finish his meal (On Helia's side, his meal had oversized portions due to the importance of the affair: them parting).

"I shouldn't eat more than I'm actually burning, Flora. I've been bedridden for like two days, I think. Apparently, I had died for who knows what reason and was ready to leave for the next world." Helia pushed away the tray of food from himself, making a sick face at it.

"Bloom said that. She healed you with the Dragonfire but the Great Dragon said you were ready to leave and she was wasting her time." Flora paused. "Would you have really…left?"

"What…? If I had the choice, no! I like living, Flora. Very much."

"I'm glad to hear that," she said softly. She picked at her food, occasionally eating it. Helia leaned back on the pile of pillows behind him and closed his eyes.

"Helia?"

"Yeah," he said without opening his eyes.

Flora wanted to phrase her question delicately, so as to not make it sound rude, jealous or any other emotion. Just casual. There was no way though, it was such a taboo subject on its own, Flora thought. "Asta…she said she dated you."

Asta was a witch. Helia was a specialist graduated from Red Fountain. Helia dated Asta. _He dated a witch._ That was a definitely disconcerting thought. Not that she had a problem with it but after three years of Alfea and fighting with the Trix, it was not easy to accept. Helia was not a biased person and he had no qualms with the witches of Cloud Tower, as far as she knew but… Asta claimed that she was his ex-girlfriend. It was just an awkward situation with Asta being like Darcy. Flora did not know much about the witch's powers but they were similar to Darcy's with the telepathy.

"She's my ex-girlfriend from home."

Flora watched his face. It was serene and unbothered by the mention of Asta.

"Is something wrong? Is she being mean to you?" Helia's eyes opened, staring at the ceiling. The way his new bangs fell about his ice-blue eyes gave him a mysterious look. He turned to her, his eyes narrowed.

"N-no, it's just...do you really mean what you said? That I shouldn't wait?" She understood his reasoning for splitting and letting her go but surely they could wait for each other. It could not be that long, right?

"Yes, but I made choices that I must live with." He paused, looking for something else to say. "I love art as much as I love fighting—no, that isn't the right word. 'Fighting' sounds too violent but it sums up what I'm good at most. I have a story to say. I want to feel like I accomplished something useful at the end of the day and so I made the choice to pursue the forces at home but by doing that, I closed certain doors on myself. I made painful decisions that I was not even aware of yet until now.

"In my first year of Red Fountain, I hated it. I hated the mentality of the lessons. There was always somebody itching for violence. I kept thinking did any of these guys exercise their brain for once and not just their body? And so, I left just like that. I think that you already know that I was the best in that year, since everyone kept spreading that around when I came for the building unveiling. Everyone thought it was weird and that something was wrong, like I was suicidal—and I might have been at one point. Saladin asked me personally and I told him what I thought, granted, I was still exiting puberty. In the back of my mind, I had been thinking of going to art school for a while and he let me—not that he could stop me.

"In art school, I thought about how dreary and useless classes were unless I could actually use them in real life. The school of thinking was there but day in, day out, I wanted something different but the same. I wanted to apply the lessons I learnt to real life, teach it to regular people, not just artists. It was all very nice to learn but I kept thinking about how much I hated it. The school schedule gave us a lot of time to focus on our projects but I always found that when I was busy working on a project, my mind had a lot of free time to think. A lot of things happened during that year, not all of them pleasant experiences." The artist paused for a long time, thinking what to say next.

"And then Saladin came in to check up on me for my mom, he saw how angry I was—I was really angry as a result, believe it or not—and so he told me that I needed a break from the buzz of art school. He told me to visit Red Fountain just for nostalgia's sake. With the new building, a lot of the courses were being rewritten and he said he wanted 'an outsider's' perspective of the education. To see if it was diverse enough for a military college. He wanted to make sure that students graduated with not only good bodies but good minds. I didn't make the lessons, mind you. We were just talking but I suspect that that was his goal."

Helia stopped, distracted by the weight of the memories.

"A lot of things convinced me to go back to Red Fountain. There was you but there was also some of the new teachers. I think you know what happened from there.

"What I'm trying to say is that I have certain obligations on me. I could ignore them but I would just feel guilty about it. I can't avoid some of the pain that comes with it. I could not leave you hanging on to me for who knows how long. That would be painful for me and you."

"You don't really think that all of this would last that long, do you?" Flora hoped.

"I do."

The words hung heavy in Flora's mind, as if the last nails had been hammered on a coffin.

"What did Asta have to do with anything?" he asked.

"I was just wondering what she meant to you. You never mentioned her before. I thought that maybe it was awkward for both of you…"

"She's my friend, nothing else other than a couple of social commitments between our families."

"What do you mean?"

"Her mom is really good friends with my mom. They met often when they were with child. I practically consider her the sister I never wanted because if something happens to her while I'm there, her mother is gonna go: 'Why didn't you do anything?! I expected you to be responsible for her, et cetera, et cetera.'"

"Really?" Flora asked.

"Really but I don't think that you should really concern yourself about that. Promise that you won't feel obligated to me when you return to Alfea."

"Helia, I can't just let you go just like that." Flora wanted to cry again but the tears did not come.

"You have to for your own sake."

"I can't convince you, can I?"

"No," he said.

"Then I guess that is all we have to say to each other. I'll leave now." Flora piled their plates on the tray she had used to bring him food. She gave him one final look, hoping for him to take back what he said. "Good night, Helia."

"Good night, Flora," he said to her receding figure.

-

Silent, which was rare, Stella took in her last vision of everyone together (she would go and personally see to Helia and Flora later in the MIR). For now, everyone who could show up for dinner was there. It was so strange. It was the first time that they had all eaten together like a family but not at a restaurant or a combination of a group date. Everyone had a role in the preparation of the meal from arranging the dishes to cooking meal and the sun princess felt cheated from the totally domestic experience. It would be the last time that they would see each other for most likely a long while.

Everyone was off-kilter, out of tune, out of alignment with everyone else. What had happened to everyone? What would happen?

More importantly, her mind urged, what had happened to her and Brandon? Brandon had taken to distancing himself from her, or plain just not talking to her.

Brandon finished putting the dishes in the dishwasher. Everyone was clearing for the night and the nightshift staff would be coming in. The Winx Club was sleeping in the warehouse in those uncomfy army beds for the night until tomorrow, they would leave. Stella suddenly found herself counting down the hours until then, feeling like she was supposed to accomplish something before that.

The squire used a towel to wipe his hands and started heading for outside. Stella followed after him.

The quay smelt god-awful. Why did Sky have to make a base on a stinking pier? Outside, it was already full dark and the moon was in its first quarter and stars were unnervingly nonexistent. The city lights competed with stars and the city was winning.

Brandon walked the length of the quay to the beach. Here went something, Stella thought.

"Brandon!" Stella jogged the length between them.

Brandon turned, surprised. "Stella? Shouldn't you be going to sleep right now?"

Stella stuttered for something to say. "I just want to say good night to you, yeah, that's all."

"Well, good night, then." He seemed expectant of her to turn back and head in.

"What, that's it?! No kiss, no hug?"

"You want me to kiss you?" he said incredulously.

"Yeah, is that a problem?"

Harassed, Brandon sighed and wrapped an arm around her waist. Stella's heart did several back flips as he pulled her in and planted his lips on hers. Before she could reciprocate, Brandon pulled back and looked at her expectantly.

What the hell was that?!

"That was a frickin' peck!" Stella screeched.

"What do you want from me?"

"Brandon, what's wrong?"

"Really, Stella? You're not serious?"

"I…this is about Mitzi, isn't it?!" she accused.

She pushed herself away from him and pointed an angry finger. Yeah, it had to be about Mitzi. That was the only explanation, she rationalized. Ever since Mitzi laid eyes on Brandon, she's been stalking him and trying to set up traps to ruin their relationship. She took advantage of the fact that she had a job at Love&Pet while he had one at the Frutti Music Bar, two very separate places.

"Is that your excuse for everything?!" Brandon shouted. "Can you say something else other than Mitzi? Mitzi this, Mitzi that! Why don't you go and fall in love her since all you think of is her!"

"Excuse me?!" Stella said in high-pitched voice. Brandon's booming deep voice had shaken her bones. It was very rare that Brandon yelled. His voice was always at the same level unless he was in throes of battle, roaring battle cries.

"Every time I try to explain, something stupid happens and you just won't listen to me. I can't understand you, Stella. One moment, you don't give a care for women looking at me and the next, you do. Did you have some type of awakening or epiphany and realized that a lot of women actually look at me? That they actually find me attractive?"

"Well, I…"

"I've gotten a lot of kisses from women before when I was on missions at Red Fountain because I saved them but I never cared because they were not you and they didn't have the same meaning as when you kiss me. Now, you suddenly decide to care and of all times, in the middle of a mission! Merciful Dragon, why now, Stella?!

"I know that I'm not always there and I had hoped that you understood the importance of what I was doing sometimes. I didn't mind that you were looking at other boys because I was not always there. I always thought that you were going to break up with me because I was never there and that would have been fine. When you actually didn't, I thought that I found such an amazing person that there was no way it could last. I felt like I was digging my own grave, waiting for something that would make you leave. That didn't happen either and I thought that I must have the gods smiling down on me for giving me you. I took a leap of faith and gave myself to you but I always knew in the back of mind it would only last so long. You've been patient with me for four years.

"Was a little faith in me too hard to ask? Yes, there are other beautiful women out there and I look at them but I can't help it. They exist and I can't just ignore them. They're people too. The way you treated Mitzi when you saw her in my arms was understandable but then you started crying because I said you didn't understand what was going on and you started jumping to conclusions. Great gods, I had no idea who the hell Mitzi was until later! Can you blame me for that?!

"Honestly, if you decided to end it here, I would not mind that much. It would hurt but I knew I had it coming for a very long time."

Stella shuffled from heel to heel, looking at the ground. Very few men gave her good talking to, not even her father but this coming from Brandon? She never thought that would ever happen. Angry, she looked to the ground with small tears falling from her eyes.

She hated being wrong. The Princess of Solaria was never wrong, from fashion advice to matchmaking and here was her own squire boyfriend piling the evidence against her that she was wrong.

"Stella, say something."

Stella's hands were curled into delicate trembling fists. "What do you want me to say?!" she screamed.

"I don't know. An explanation for why you've been so mean to the people around me?"

Stella bit her tongue, scared. Everything he had said was true, especially the part when she had noticed that a lot of people really liked looking at him like a hot piece of work. Granted, he was extremely handsome but it was beyond ridiculous the way the girls talked about him. And now, she was about to leave for Alfea while he stayed on Earth and who knows what would happen as soon as she left.

"I-I just didn't like them hanging off of you and… I hated everyone looking at you! I didn't like the way they talked about you. They kept talking about—y'know an-and…"

Brandon enveloped her into a tight hug. He buried his nose in her hair. He instantly understood what was wrong. "You got rattled by a couple of girls who were dreaming of doing _it_ with me?"

Stella wailed into his chest.

"Stella, is that all? You realize that I will never look at them the same way I look at you. I love you, you know that, right?"

"Yeah…but—"

Brandon turned her tear-stained face to him and kissed her.

"But nothing. Are you going to stay with me still?"

"Well, yeah, of course. I love you, Brandon. I don't want to ever leave you."

-

"So this is it," Bloom said unsatisfied. About what, she could not quite name it.

After dinner, Sky had jumped onto the central computer platform that was the main attraction of the warehouse and began working on all sorts of programs for who knows what reason. Bloom had joined him after a few minutes, watching the programs written in various non-Earth languages pop in and out of the hologram screens floating about him. Sky had not answered her statement, apparently too busy.

"What are you doing?" Bloom sat on a swivel seat beside him.

"Working," Sky said vaguely.

Well, she could have figured that out on her own. "On what? A defense strategy or backup plan or whatever specialists or kings do on computers?"

"I'm going to be vague with you so bare with me when I'm not pouring out state secrets to you, Bloom. I'm sorry—that was mean," he apologized quickly with his eyes still on the two dozen screens about him.

"Well, could you give me your complete attention for five minutes? I want to talk to you." Bloom curled the fabric of her skirt in her hands.

"In a minute, I promise. Just let me finish all of this."

Bloom jumped in her seat as she heard the printer beside where she had rested her elbow—that thing was a printer?!—start printing a dozen sheets of documents. She made a move to pick them up and look at them but Sky was already leaning over her, snatching the sheets out of her hands before she could turn them over to read the printed side.

Sky looked into her face. "Not for your eyes, Bloom. I'm sorry," he said much more sincerely.

Bloom felt like Sky had just shut a door in her face, the gap between them growing even bigger.

Sky produced a plain unassuming brown envelope, tucked the papers in and sealed it. The envelope seemed so flimsy and weak for whatever powerful documents he was putting inside it.

"Bloom, I have a favour to ask of you. I know that you will not be happy with me when I say you're not allowed to know why and especially in our condition."

"Well, I want to talk about us _first_."

"The mission before myself, Bloom," he said as if reciting a childhood-deep diktat. Throughout her years of knowing him, she had heard him recite similar lines. The first time was in their mission towards Shadowhaunt to rescue the pixies. After Stella had fallen off a cliff and Brandon had dived after her, Bloom was ready to go after them both until Sky plucked her out of the air and delivered the hard truth.

"No, I'm sick of that line. Whatever your favour is cannot be more important than our relationship, Sky. I'm the Princess of Sparks, the Keeper of the Flame and your fiancée. I'm important, too."

Sky turned to her, his stance rigid. "Wrong, Bloom," he said flatly. He held up the envelope threateningly to her. "Whatever's in this envelope is more important the fact that I'm the King of Eraklyon, more important than my own head. I would kill everyone who got in my way to deliver this envelop, if I had to. If I die in the course of this mission, this message is my only assurance that I did something right for once in my life. That is how important it is. Are you going to help me or not?"

Bloom's eyes widened at Sky's tone. It had effectively shut her up. He was talking serious business and it was terrifying her. "Why?"

"Bad question. I am the last person you want to ask that, Bloom, especially if you want to stay alive. Will you do this favour or not?"

"If I can, yeah."

"Can you follow instructions to the letter?"

"You know me, Sky."

"Let's pretend I don't."

"What?!" she yelled in shock but Sky's hand immediately flew to her mouth, silencing her.

"Keep it down. I trust you, Bloom. I love you but I need to know if you consider yourself virtuous. If I told you deliver something personally for me, without ever looking at what I wanted you to deliver, could you do it? Or would you be tempted to take a peak at the package you were delivering? Can you resist temptation?"

Bloom's looked from place to place in the warehouse, looking for someone to notice their exchange. It seemed that everyone had left, even Stella who followed Brandon out of the warehouse. She did not like where Sky was going with this. Temptation was a touchy subject for her. If she could avoid it, she would like the plague. She wanted to paint herself virtuous like paladins or the knights of the Fortress of Light or her parents Miriam and Oritel who had sacrificed potential eternity in Obsidian. She remembered WizGiz's test of honour when she had accidentally found the answers to his quiz and she had some thoughts that in retrospect, scared the hell out of her. She had been a fairy barely keeping up with everyone and those answers had made some dark things crawl out of their hiding spaces in her mind. There was also when she had joined Darkar. The dark personality that had invaded her body and locked her in the corner of her mind frightened her. Inside of her head, she watched in horror as she hurt her friends. She had cried praying that they would kill her before it was too late.

Sky took his hand away from her mouth. "I believe in you, Bloom, but I need to know if you can believe in yourself. That is the point of this: if you cannot trust yourself, then I can't trust you either with this task."

"Trust, Sky, trust?" she said incredulously.

"Forget about our relationship. We are two beings and I am asking you to do something very important for me. It's nothing difficult. All I want you to do is deliver this envelope when you get to Magix. I won't tell you who until you leave. Can you do it for me?"

"Just deliver that envelope?"

"Yes."

"Well, yeah." Bloom felt like Sky was obscenely exaggerating the importance of the stupid envelope.

"Without ever caring what's inside, Bloom?"

"Um, yeah."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, Sky. Why are you making this so hard?!"

Sky simpered. "It's my job to make it difficult so that I clean out all the rotten apples."

"Sky, you can trust me. You know whose side I'm on."

"There are many kinds of trust, Bloom. There is love in which someone would tell every single secret to their beloved and demand to know everything in return. Then there is blind faith and unerring loyalty, the kind that you never ask questions." In trust, love was a two-way lane. In loyalty, it was not.

"And you want blind faith right now?"

"Exactly."

"I don't think that I'm the right person that you be asking then. Why not, Brandon or Chandra? They're sworn to protect you."

"Bloom, I want this off the books."

"Off the books?" Bloom's brows knitted together in confusion.

"This conversation never happened," he said conspiratorially.

"Oh…" Those spy action movies were starting to become startling real in Bloom's mind.

Bloom pursed her lips, feeling that a heavy weight had been placed on her yet again. The importance of the letter was starting to scare her but she knew she could handle it. She had saved Magix and Sparks and the universe several times, delivering a letter should be a piece of cake. The fire fairy straightened her shoulders at the idea. "Okay, what do you want me to do?"

"I want you deliver this letter personally. Make sure that you put it into the addressee's hands yourself. Don't let a secretary take it and say that she'll deliver to whomever later. Got it?"

"Yeah, but to who is it going to?"

"I'll tell you when you're about to leave tomorrow."

Bloom yawned. She felt very tired all of a sudden, weary from the stress of everything that had happened. It was weird because she had wanted to bring up the subject of their relationship and somehow try to fix it. Trust had been a big issue in her mind. She felt like he was doing all sorts of things behind her back because he had no faith in her.

"Now, you wanted to talk to me about us?" Sky said as he wiped the memory of the computer clean and shut it down. The warehouse grew noticeably darker after the huge machine went quiet.

"I just wanted to know…what were you thinking doing…"

"Doing what?"

"Well, _everything_! Buying or hacking the shop or whatever and suddenly deciding that you need us out of the way by shipping us back to Magix. Faragonda put this task on the Winx Club, not you guys. You were only supposed to watch us, make sure that we're safe and alive. It's just…"

"You're not in control anymore."

Bloom swallowed hard. "Yes!" she mumbled. Her lips quivered and tears began to form at her eyes. Sky had said everything she had been feeling for the last few weeks from the slap on the face to the journey in Roxy's mind—which still made very little sense.

"Bloom, come here." Sky opened his arms, motioning for her to sit on him.

She hesitated, wanting to believe that he was the same man she fell in love with in Magix. She sat on one of his legs. The blond king wrapped his arms around her. The fire fairy felt fragile and so breakable in his arms. His arms were like bands of steel compared to her slender twigs. Both of her wrists could easily be held in his one hand. His hands were rough from handling weapons but extremely warm. From this distance, Bloom could smell Sky's distinctive scent: something sulfuric like gunpowder mixed with iron, sweat and other chemicals from being surrounded by weapons and machinery. Sky leaned his head on her shoulder.

He breathed in her scent. "I like how you smell. Sweet and fruity, like I could eat you—far from my point. I'm going to be truthful, as much as I can. If you're going to get mad and I suppose it's only natural. The situation has evolved since we first came to Earth. The more you fought with the wizards, the more I realized that this was not going to be a simple matter of killing them and wrapping it up with a report. Since they are able to travel to Magix and back, they made it a galactic matter.

"What the wizards are after is well-planned and thought out. They had planned this centuries before we were born and the fact that they are still alive means that they have some form of immortality. Immortality is forbidden across the universe. _Everyone must die. _The fact that they have almost all the fairy magic on Earth is a cause for concern because fairies, by extension their affinities, are creations of the Great Dragon. The mere concept of affinities, their intelligence and their reincarnations—fairies that is, are made from the essence of the Dragon. You know the rest from there. No one should have that power."

"What does this have to do with us?"

Sky's breathing tickled her neck. "It's the reason why I did all those things."

Bloom wrapped her arms around his neck and hid her face on his shoulder. "This is so messed up. Our past missions were never like this. We always used to work together so easily."

"Our priorities have changed, that's why. At RF, I took an oath to never kill. That oath is over. The life of one planet is at stake and they have no idea about it. This isn't like Valtor when he would threaten to take over. Everyone knew Valtor and his war crimes. The people of Earth don't. They don't have an Omega. "

"Does that mean you would kill?"

"If I need to, yes."

"Oh God, Sky." Tears stained Sky's shirt. Bloom trembled in his arms.

"We're really messed up, Bloom, I know."

"This wasn't what I wanted with us. I wanted to get to know you better since you were always busy with RF stuff but_ this_…"

"I know. You should get ready for tomorrow. Life always starts at seven in the warehouse, so that means you're waking up at six."

-

The Winx Club woke up at the god-awful hour of six.

"This feels like school," Musa yawned.

"Up and at 'em, Winx!" Chandra knocked on the door of their barrack. "Your portal to Magix is at eight. Breakfast starts getting served in half an hour."

Musa looked to her others in her room. Tecna was already awake and changing into her clothes. Flora was rubbing her eyes and Stella was nowhere to be found. She supposed that she was at the other room with Bloom and Layla—the barracks only housed four to a room. Quickly, everyone made the final arrangements with their bags and pulled them to the main area of the warehouse.

"Helia, what are you doing up?!" Flora dropped her bags and gasped.

The colour had return to the artist's face. He wore regular clothes, finally out of the medical gown. He waved at the group with his fork, having already started eating breakfast.

"It's not that early. I heard that you guys were leaving so I wanted to say goodbye."

"That's so sweet!" Stella said.

"Of course, that doesn't mean I don't tire easily."

Everyone ate, although not quite in the mood to eat.

Layla looked about for her fiancée. "Where's Nabu?"

Last to join them was Roxy, tired with bands forming under her eyes. "So you're leaving for Magix?" she asked.

"Just us," Tecna pointed to all the girls.

"So what does this mean about me?"

"Sky's in charge," Bloom said. "We have to return to Magix because something has come up."

"What do you mean?"

"You know the Trix? Well, apparently they might be back and we just going to make sure."

"And what about my magic and the wizards? You can't just leave me alone like this. I mean, you know…"

"We know," Bloom said guiltily, "But I have this…_feeling_…that Sky took care of that."

Sky joined them around seven and asked them: the Winx Club, the specialists and Roxy to follow him to en empty space of floor. As he walked, the floor trembled and stairs started to shape themselves out of the concrete before him, leading to a floor below. All of the girls' eyes widened at the trick.

"There's a floor below?!" Roxy said. She was right. There was not supposed to be a floor below since the warehouse was built on a pier, which was over and near water.

"There's twenty-one to be exact but the first four is just a giant water tank," Sky said as he descended the stairs.

They found themselves walking down a bright sea blue corridor. The floor was illuminated with built-in lights. Layla knocked at the walls. "Glass, Sky?"

"Four feet thick. Look at the bottom."

The water princess angled her eyes so that she was almost looking at the floor. Below was a rainbow of colours assaulting her eyes. "Is that a coral reef?! Wait, is that a submarine, too?!" Layla screamed. Roxy and the rest of the Winx glued their faces to the glass, curious and amazed.

"What is this all for?" Roxy asked. It was not as if Sky had suddenly developed a scholastic interest for underwater ecology, was it? She was amazed at the dazzle of colours and hoped that she could get closer to look at it. She felt like she was visiting an aquarium.

"Some of us aren't land-based creatures, Roxy. Some of us need to return back to the water to remind ourselves of what we truly are. Oh, and no, there's no fish worth noting," Sky said.

"Yeah, then what's that moving between the kelp?" Layla said, since her eyes knew what to look for exactly in a marine environment.

Whatever had been moving down below had decided to move and it shot itself straight at the window where Layla was. She yelped and jumped back in shock. "What on Andros?!"

"Yeah, did you forget Nabu's a born merman?"

Roxy backed away from the glass, horrified at the black mass that had covered the glass. Her breathing started to become erratic and her heart pumped dangerously fast. She opened her mouth to scream until Helia covered her mouth with his hand and held her up by the shoulder before she fell on her butt. There was no way in hell that the thing that was seeing was real.

"Easy, Roxy. Don't scream. It's only Nabu."

No way. No freakin' fucking way was that the very human Nabu.

The black mass swam back and forth, trying to keep Layla in its sight. It had a long scaly body with distinctly human arms. Roxy closed her eyes, hoping it would go away. She opened them again and found that it was still there. She took in the sight slowly, starting at the tail. It had fanned tailed that trailed into a long body. Its body was black gray with white strips or white with black strips like a zebra. It had had fins at its waist that extended into long sharp spines and formed into a dark-skinned human torso. Black strips continued along its back, which was covered with a dorsal fin full more spines. Its arms were covered in short spikes as well and his hands were webbed with translucent gray skin. Finally getting to the face, there was a crown of short spines and a head of seaweed-like hair that was tied into a braid. It was Nabu's face save for a few black strips. She saw four pairs of gills, two at his neck and two bigger ones directly on his chest. He seemed to be dotted with purple bioluminescence.

Nabu swam with his arms at his sides beside the glass, circling back and forth. His face was emotionless but his body language spoke all.

"I thought he was a wizard?" Bloom looked to Sky.

"What, fish can't have magic, too?" Layla said.

"She's right."

They proceeded down the corridor, with Nabu trailing beside them in the water. It led to a column-like chamber that was surrounded by the aquarium. Roxy looked over the edge of the platform to see the elevator shaft. As a safety precaution, there was a spiral of stairs and a long ladder that led from the top down to the very bottom which she could not see. Before them was a huge industrial-sized elevator and they stepped in.

The door opened again to reveal the bottom of the aquarium. It was a huge floor despite the water tank and it was very empty. Nabu idled at the glass. Beside him was a heavily enforced box-like chamber that said "Danger" all over it, especially the door. It looked like a room that led into the tank. Surrounding that was an elaborate chemical lab and an even bigger control station that faced the black bullet-shaped submarine that stood like a bastion over the coral reef.

The Winx Club marveled at the size of the tank. It reached to the very first floor that they had come from. The size of the glass and its clarity was impossible. There was no way that any human on Earth could have built this.

"How come you didn't tell us that you had this under here?" Bloom asked.

"I didn't see why you needed to know," Sky said.

"How did you get all of this down here? And there's another seventeen floors?" Tecna scrutinized the glass.

"With magic."

"What's below us?"

"I'm not telling you that. Sorry. The portal to Magix is about to come. We should set up our end." Sky glanced at his watch.

At the far end of the chamber, away from the tank, was something that looked startlingly like a Stargate fused into the wall. It was a hulking piece of machinery with familiar yet alien letters were drawn along the rim. The object bordered between being mythical and real. Before the portal was a computer station used to input coordinates. Timmy began programming the portal with Tecna hovering beside him.

Layla turned back to the glass where Nabu was. She looked longingly at him.

The shock of seeing merman Nabu had finally worn off of Roxy. She looked to Layla for some type of explanation. "So, um, that's Nabu's um—"

"His true form," Layla said. "Remember when I said that his people didn't kiss?"

"Is it because he's a merman?"

"Yes," Layla paused, pensive of how to explain her feelings. "They have no reason to kiss. He knows all about it but it's just not a natural thing to him. It's not the first thing that comes to his mind. He's lived equally as long in water as he has on land but it's all about genetic predisposition. He grew up in water first so you know, it's more natural to him." Layla sighed and waved to Nabu across the glass. He waved back and pointed to the steel chamber beside him.

He made a bunch of weird gestures. Layla recognized it immediately and starting moving towards the chamber.

"What was that?" Roxy asked.

"It's a type of sign language between humans and merfolk. Merfolk don't need languages like we do since they have body language and they're extremely sensitive to vibrations. He says that we can talk in the 'changing room,' I think. Come with me, I think that I might need help opening the door."

They approached the heavy reinforced airlock door, which said 'Transition and Acclimation Chamber'—the changing room, and with great difficulty, turned the wheel to unlock it. There was a blast of hot humid air. Layla and Roxy went inside the chamber. It was long and there were small circular windows that looking into the water tank. There was scuba diving equipment lining the room and at the very far end, a shallow pool.

Beside the pool was a set of neatly folded clothes and a pair of sneakers. They looked into the pool. Layla bent down to ground so that she was lying with her face almost touching the surface of the water. The water rippled as Nabu swam from a tunnel into the pool and placed his face just under Layla's. His fins and tail compensated to keep him in place.

"Oh God, this is freaky!" Roxy expected Nabu to break the surface of the water but he did not. Some of his longer zebra-striped spines poked out but that was it. Instead, he started blowing large bubbles like a betta fish did for its nest into the water princess's face. The dark woman backed away as the bubbles started to pop and splash water in her face.

"Is he going to come out?" Roxy asked.

"Yeah, I think so."

Nabu swam back deeper into pool and circled his own tail and then came to a stop. The purple bioluminescent designs that covered his body glowed brilliantly as he blew an impossibly large bubble. He entered the bubble and curled himself like he was looking for a comfortable position to sleep. Comfortable, the bubble shone like silver. Roxy looked away from the water, afraid of being blinded. The bubble burst, making the water spill onto the floor and light receded. Nabu's head broke the surface of the water as he took a deep hungry breathe of oxygen.

"Good morning," he said in that same familiar and friendly voice. He swam to the edge.

"Holy fucking crap!" Roxy eyes widened at Nabu's new pair of legs and lack of fins and spines in the water. He was nude too but that was far from the point. He had legs! "Okay, y'know what, I'm going to leave now. That was too much for this early in the morning."

Roxy turned and left, mumbling about needing sleep.

"Why didn't you tell me that you had entire tank to yourself down here?" Layla asked.

"Well, it's actually cramp with the submarine and a couple other neighbours."

"There are others?"

"Yeah but it doesn't matter."

"Did you eat already? You weren't at breakfast."

"I tried something called tilapia. Not bad. Didn't last in the water for long so I had to eat it fast instead of getting to chase it for a bit," he conversationally. "You're leaving now?"

"Just about."

Nabu pulled himself out of the water and took the towel that Layla handed to him. Now, it was the time to care that he was naked. Layla had long grown up with her own kind and merfolk. She knew both cultures well but one of the biggest differences was clothing. Merfolk had no need for it underwater and therefore, the occasional mermaid or merman that had found some reason to become human found the need to cover up very amusing.

Nabu understood the need for it though in Layla's world, her society. It was a display of stature, to show off one's colours, if you will like when it was mating season and fish were strutting their colours and fins to attract a mate. He knew that they also attached much more basic meanings to it like for warmth or protection but he still found it funny the way people fussed over it. Either way, nudity had very little meaning to him. It was not offensive at all; it barely registered as something worth his attention most of the time.

It was always a great way to bug Layla, too. Under that tough nitty-gritty tomboy exterior was a well-bred lady who had all the rules of propriety and the history of her planet memorized to the letter. She liked to say that she was strong, able to withstand the most perverse taboos and issues. As much as it was genetic predisposition for him to not care about his nudity, it was the reverse for Layla. She _always_ cared. It was a weird habit of her people.

Layla turned, crossed her arms and looked to the side, averting her gaze as he picked up his pants.

"Why do you always do that?" Nabu asked.

"Do what?"

"You know what."

Layla pouted. "Because it's wrong."

"Not for me, it isn't."

"Well!—you don't count!"

Nabu smiled. "That's so mean. I can't help it if I don't understand your traditions. I can't attach the same meaning to it as you do because it's natural to me." The wizard stood in front of Layla and used a finger to tilt face so that she was looking at him. She dodged it and looked down.

_Bad move! Very bad move! _The image was not quite seared into her mind but it was there. She was treading very dangerous territory in her mind. During the summer on Andros, there were many times where he had to switch between his merman and human form. Where he came from, there was no formality about doing it, a proper time or place to change shape. Merfolk just changed where is suited them best. In essence, she had seen him change many times and there was no avoiding the really nice view of her fiancé.

Nabu's smile widened even more and he tilted her head towards him. She had no other way of looking other than into his face. "I'm curious about something," he said gently.

Layla closed her eyes. He was pushing her sanity to the limits again. Sometimes, she felt that she knew that he was toying with her and at other times, he was being purely academic when he did these things. "And what's that?" she breathed. Everywhere she looked was a bad place so it was best that she kept her eyes closed

"Another human tradition." Why was it that when he was with her, it was always about 'human traditions?' There were plenty of other people to ask around.

"Which one is it?"

Normally, she would have asked him to get dress or harped him on decency by wrapping his towel around his waist but every time she did, he laughed at her for caring at something so 'insignificant.' _Insignificant, her ass!_

"You're always looking at me. At my face, to be precise. I kept thinking, is there something wrong with it? But no, all the other humans look upon me agreeably so it wasn't that."

There were other girls that looked upon him agreeably?! _Grrrr._

"And then I remembered that there was this tradition everyone was so fond of. There was this one woman at the bar who wanted me to kiss her since it was one of her dares to do for her bachelorette party."

_What?!_

"Of course, I didn't since I thought she was a freak and she smelled like she had drunk too much already. I also remembered that humans place a lot of significance on their first kiss and I was thinking, I've never really kissed anyone romantically."

Layla's eyes opened out of shock. "What?!" she yelled. Her voice echoed in the small chamber.

"Yeah, you heard me. I've never kissed anyone in the sexual sense. Stupid, isn't it? I've never really wanted to try until now."

Layla became flush, her breathing hitched, her heart skipped a beat and she took a step back.

"I know that this is really out of the blue but do you want to kiss me?" he asked.

"I, um," Layla stuttered. _Ohmigod, ohmigod, ohmigod, ohmigod, ohmigod, ohmigod, ohmigod!_ She stood still, as if she had been hit by lightning. His words slammed into her heart and shot her heart into her throat. There was no way that he was asking this?! He wasn't serious?!

"I'll take that as a yes," he teased.

Layla licked her lips, tasting the flavored lip balm she had put on earlier. "W-why?" she asked. "Why do you want to know what kissing is like all of a sudden?" There was something wrong about this situation. It just did not fit that Nabu suddenly wanted to know what kissing was like. Normal guys just did not do that.

But Nabu was not a normal guy either. He was not even human by birth so why was she comparing him to the other human guys she had dated? Sure, the pressure of marriage was there but dating Nabu had given her a whole new slew of problems that involved boys. Everything she had known about boys before had gone out the window the moment she realized what he really was. To be honest, it had been so exhilarating and intense getting to know him. She had jumped headfirst into their relationship hoping that she was doing the best thing for her kingdom. His world was so completely different from hers, much more simple and relaxed. There was no convoluted backstabbing politics. It was straightforward and to the point. He saw half of the things that she thought were normal as frivolous and exaggerated, prompting a lot of change half of the time just to appease the future king.

"Yes." No, wait, she meant 'No.' But did she really?

Feeling the world tremble beneath her toes, Nabu leaned down and brushed his lips against hers. He lingered, savouring the curve of her lips.

-

Roxy pinched herself to make sure was not dreaming. The solid wall inside the gate had disappeared into a whirling frothing mass of light and energy. The thing was radiating energy that put her on nerve. It felt unnatural to her and she hoped that it would go away soon. There was a total wrongness of it existing. The turbulent rainbow of lights in the portal settled into a hazy pink image with what looked like a pair of wings.

"What is that?" she asked Bloom.

"The front gates to Alfea."

"The school is pink?"

"That's what I thought too but it grows on you when you finally have to start calling it home." Bloom took a deep breathe.

The scent of flowers was on the air. Flora could tell every individual type of flower from. She could smell the magic in the air, too. She glowed with vigour as she stepped towards portal. It was as if she had been withering on Earth from the lack of magic without knowing it. She looked back to Helia, sorrowfully.

"I have no regrets," he said. He was deadest on his choice, his words breaking her heart. It was just surreal the way he had brought the subject of their separation but she understood in a way. She still did not like it.

All of the other girls said their good-byes. It was a teary goodbye but some of the girls were already ready to move forward to Alfea.

Sky enveloped Bloom into a big hug and whispered some last words to her in her ear.

Riven walked Musa to the portal.

The music fairy turned to the redhead. "Well, this is it, I guess," she said. She ran a hand through her long hair, nervous.

"Yeah," Riven said.

Musa slipped something out of her back pocket. "I should probably give this back to you then before you get mad." She laid her palm out with the phone that she had stolen last night.

One red arrogant brow lifted in curiosity. "Musa, what were you doing with my phone?"

The music fairy gave a cheeky smile.

"Musa," he warned.

"No magic, I promise. I just put some things in there that I thought that you might like. I know it's been really…_weird_ with everything that's happen. I know that you have a job to do here on Earth and I'm not going to be here to watch your ass, so yeah. Don't forget me, 'kay?"

Riven handled his phone and checked the display. He judged it normal and unharmed. "Since when were you such a chick? First, you let your hair down and wear skirts and now you steal people's phones?"

"Oh shut up, Riven. You've been a horrible person lately but I still like you. Why am I still with you?" Musa stood on the toes of her pink polka dotted heels and kissed him.

"Because guys with mysterious pasts and huge egos are in this season."

Musa sighed.

"You're the one who wanted to start caring about fashion all of sudden."

"I know. Well, see ya." Musa disentangled herself from Riven and walked up to the pristine image of Alfea in the wall.

"Honestly, I do like the hair," Riven yelled at her back. "A lot."

Musa stiffened and reddened. Some of the other girls giggled.

With one last look at their men and Roxy, the Winx Club went into the portal and stepped out into the Magix. The swirling whiteness behind them disappeared as the Alfea gates opened to welcome them.

* * *

**Latter Note:** The original notes have been moved to my forum.

Tell me what you think in the reviews.


	36. Chapter 36 Stasis and Change

**Verboten  
****Chapter 36**

Sunday, March 7, 2010

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the Winx Club.

**Fore Note:** Did the last chapter feel like an ending? It wasn't.

Just info for those who have not seen episode one of season four: there is indeed a Hall of Magic in Alfea. In one of the mirrors in Faragonda's office, one of them leads into an underground library that the Winx Club have access to. It's originally called the Hall of Enchantments in the RAI English, which just sounds way too pompous. I mean really? For something that apparently contains the history of the magical universe and a corridor devoted to all past and present villains, could they have come up with something a little cooler? Hall of Magic is sticking!

For those who want to complain still that in the actual Italian that it's called 'something d'incantate' or whatever, I know that it more or less points to Hall of Enchantments in the literal sense but the meaning behind those individual words varies between languages. 'Enchant' means to make someone happy primarily while it can also mean to put under a spell in English. Unfortunately, the former definition sticks in my mind heavily when I think of the word (in English) as well as the fact that I associate it with incubi, vampires, demons of temptation, etc when it comes to magic. If you said it to me in French, I would interpret it as 'magical or bespelled' in the broad sense which was what was possibly intended.

* * *

Roxy woke up with an all-consuming migraine. It was as if a thousand needles were being inserted into her brain. Her head throbbed. She turned over in her bed, reeling in pain. Beside her, her kitten (which she had yet to name) and Artu watched in confusion at her pain. Artu poked his nose into her arm and whined.

In an instant, the pain was gone. She found herself in her own bed, in her own house and for a fleeting moment, she thought that the entire ordeal involving the Winx Club and the specialists was just a dream. The kitten sashayed around her arm, meowing and Roxy realized that it had not been a dream at all. She had found the kitten while running away from the wizards. She would have never found the kitten if she had never run, therefore if she had never run, she would have never been chased by the wizards and so on.

The pain in her head was still present but nothing a couple of pain relievers could not handle. The pink-haired girl made her way downstairs, noticing that it was late to get up. She ate a small and quick breakfast. She stared at the plate for a very long time, trying to readjust herself to a sense of normalcy.

Family. Dad had one arm in a sling and was already at the bar, working somehow. That was a disconcerting thought.

Job. She had a shift at the bar starting at one.

Magic. The Winx Club was gone, but their boyfriends were still on Earth to watch over her. That was also disconcerting.

Her destiny? She had no idea. There were a million other things going on in her world that she did not even mention to the Winx Club.

After cleaning the dishes, getting dressed and leaving the house with Artu, she decided that she would try to live the next couple days like they were normal and then tackle the millions of issues awaiting her, one at a time. Just at the corner down the street, it seemed fate had other plans and she wanted Roxy to face her issues now.

A teenage girl with long black hair wearing a t-shirt and demin shorts appeared. "Hi, is it too early to bother you yet?" Asta said cautiously, walking beside her.

"About what?"

"Y'know…the last week?"

"Oh." Roxy and Asta continued on their way to the bar.

"Look, I can tell that you're shaken by what just happened."

As if she understood what had happened! Inside, the Earth fairy was seething with confusion. "Shaken? I'm upset, Asta! I have no idea what the hell is going on!" Roxy shouted.

"Well, let's start from the beginning. It'll be good for you to get it out. Start with the White Circle after Bloom gave it to you," Asta coaxed.

"The thing started talking to me. It called itself Nebula and it—" Roxy tried to use hand gestures to explain.

"Exploded with energy? Tried to take you over?"

"Yes, that. There was so much screaming. I heard so many things like sadness, anger, loneliness. I was Nebula and I couldn't fight it. Do you understand what I mean?"

"Yes," Asta paused. Roxy felt a weighty 'no' on its way. "But no."

"How come?"

"I'm a witch, you're a fairy. I could have been the fairy and you the witch. It's a matter of predestination. Fairies are most of the time chosen by fate but the matter is weighted heavily by your personality and will."

"Are you saying that I was chosen before I was born?"

"Yes. Look, no one said that being a fairy was going to be easy but whatever affinity chose to use you as its reincarnation thought you were strong enough to change this world profoundly. You are special not only because you were chosen to be a fairy but because you are a wonderful and kind-hearted person. You have the gift of extreme kindness to every living creature around you. You treat Artu and your cat better than you treat people."

Roxy looked down to Artu. He looked back up, wagging his tail. "And if I don't want to be special? I'm not like you guys, I don't belong. My life is here on Earth with my father and Artu."

"One thing does not exclude the other. Who told you that you belong only on Earth? The universe is much bigger than this planet. You belong wherever you want to belong. If you want it to be on Earth, so be it. Just remember, your destiny is not made for you. It's you who makes your destiny. You can learn to use your magic and be a fairy without giving up the normal things."

"This is way too deep. I didn't want any of this."

"Roxy, I understand how you feel. I am acutely and painfully aware of everyone's feelings twenty-four/seven because it's part of my magic. Just take the time to think about it. And if you need help, you have all of us. The Winx Club is just one phone call away, if you want."

Roxy nodded, feeling slightly better about the support. She wanted to talk about something else, other than herself and so she turned the conversation to Asta's powers. "What are your powers?"

"My specialty is powers involving the mental faculties. That's the technical term for it in school. Without the fancy verbatim, it's telepathy. I can read and communicate with other minds, alter them, separate them, control them and whatever but don't confuse it with what Chandra has. Chandra can only read minds. It makes her a clairvoyant, like a lie-detector. She can only read thoughts that are on the surface of the mind. She can't explore people's memories like I did or anything else."

"And?"

"And what? I just told you my life's story right there."

"Well, what does it look like your magic?"

"What do to you mean?"

"Bloom's magic looks like fire and Flora's is flowers. What about yours?"

"Unlike fairies, witches can choose how they want their magic to look like and where to draw the energy for it. Not everyone uses their magic to fight, contrary to what you've seen. Fighting with magic is harder than you think which is why the Winx have very little real contact with the wizards in battle. Magic takes a toll on the body. You need to have enough endurance use magic as well as hold your own in physical combat, which is extremely hard. It's a delicate balance."

"Meaning?"

"You're just going to see a bunch of psychedelic lights from me. Maybe some crystals every now and then when I want to physically throw something at you."

"What else can you do?" Roxy pried.

Asta felt like this conversation was a little more personal than expected but she suspected that this was to give Roxy a sense of normalcy or relief, some way of calming her down and saying that magic is normal.

"I do lab technician stuff as a job on Eraklyon but I work as a spy on Earth. Y'know, geeky CSI stuff. Sometimes, I'm called in as an interrogation specialist. I did mostly rhythmic gymnastics in school, did some dance, I can sew, got a civil pilot's license…um and did some martial arts."

"That…that's a lot more than I ever did, you know that, right? I'm just really good at cooking and baking but that's it."

"That means you know how to feed yourself," Asta assured her. "Cooking is more important than being able to fly an aircraft. Food is an essential that is taken for granted. Don't think you're not good at anything. You're also extremely good with animals. When I went to Magix, I felt kind of like the overachiever in the class but I failed at some normal things. I can cook for my survival but I can't cook for taste. Sky and all the other guys did it anyways so I'm not alone when I think about it."

"Are all the people in the universe like you and them?"

"What do you mean?"

"Are they considered normal? Like does everyone have magic?" Roxy searched her mind for the right words. The Earth fairy turned to Asta, unable to communicate her thoughts.

Asta's eyes glowed stormy grey with magic, reading her mind. "I understand what you're trying to get at. No, not everyone practises magic to the degree that you've seen. There are people who see magic but can't practise it at all. They are just like the people on Earth. If the city is suddenly attacked by, let's say a giant monster, not every citizen is trained for battle or brave enough for it. Most of them will just run while they let the professionals take care of it."

Roxy watched the glow in Asta's eyes disappear back to black brown. "And what happened to your eyes just now?"

"It's what happens when I use magic. Some people have a glow around their body; my eyes glow because that is how I focus my powers. I could use contacts to cover them but it would just be annoying taking them off and putting them on. Tell me, did the Winx Club teach you any magic?"

"No, not really."

"How would you feel if I taught you magic?" the witch offered. Roxy and Asta came to a stop in front of the entrance to the Frutti Music Bar. They faced each other.

"What? Would that be right? You're a witch—"

Asta looked into the fairy's eyes intently. "And you're a fairy. Magic is magic. There is no difference except for the intention that you attach to your magic. I'm not a witch from Cloud Tower. I did not go to school in Magix to learn more magic. I went to learn sciences. That is the prejudice that Winx Club has implanted in you because of their experiences. I am not a Trix, I am not a Cloud Tower witch, I am not inherently evil. I am just a witch. If I happen to be evil, it is because I choose to be evil."

"I-I…" Roxy said mortified. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it to be like that."

"So would you like it if I taught you magic?"

"Yes."

-

Bloom woke up all of a sudden, sweating and breathing heavily. Magix's two suns shone brightly in her new empty bland room. She looked about confused. This was her new room in the faculty wing of Alfea, the same room that she had gotten when she started her internship at Alfea before she had rushed off to Earth.

Belle, her fairy pet green sheep, fluttered around her head. Kiko hopped on to her lap, concerned. Bloom assured them with a pet on their head. Her room was square with bare walls and the essential furniture. She had her own private bathroom and a balcony. Her stuff was still packed in her bags. She threw the sheets off, jumped out of bed and used a spell to unpack everything. She felt oddly alone since Flora was not with her. All the girls had their own separate rooms. They had become interns at Alfea after the rebirth of Sparks and they were supposed to act as role models for the newer fairies.

Clothes flew into the closet, bathroom stuff into the bathroom, books and papers onto the desk and bookshelves, her bed arranged itself with her comforter from home and all the other necessities.

Still, she felt unhappy over the mess she had left on Earth. After taking a hot shower and dressing, she noticed her purse was still on the side table that she had dropped it on. It was still full of the little knickknacks that she could not decide where to put them. She fumbled through it for her lip balm and saw the letter that Sky had snuck in when he finally hugged her before leaving. She remembered the name he had whispered into her ear:

"Faragonda."

Bits of the strange conversation floated in her head. "Then there is blind faith and unerring loyalty, the kind that you never ask questions." Trust, her ass. Something picked at her mind though. What was so important about this letter that he had to pull that move on her? That kind of trust was reserved for a king and his servant, not a man and his woman. On second thought, there were some relationships that were just like that. What had he been talking about?

He'd better have a good explanation when she came back. There was a knock on her door that broke her out of her stupor.

The fire fairy hid the letter in her back pocket and answered the door. "Madame DuFour, good morning," Bloom said cheerily to her former teacher.

Carlotta DuFour was a springy woman with long blond white hair and always wore something fabulous. At the moment, she wore a red knee-length dress under a brown jacket. She was Stella's favourite teacher because she knew who Isaac Wizrahi and Spella McCartney were—that is, she was fashion savvy. DuFour created a lot of envy and talk among her students for her looks, power and teaching methods as she was also one of the toughest teachers in the school. Under the guise of a high-born noble woman was a drill sergeant. Along with being the primary teacher for etiquette and ethics, she was a master spellcaster who taught the Honours Magic, a class that was just as selective as Professor Avalon's Magic Philosophy.

"I don't know if you're aware of this since you left for your mission on Earth before even completing an entire day of teaching at Alfea, Bloom, but I am the woman in charge of all the interns. Right now, the arcana regarding your roles and positions in this school are in dispute for reasons undisclosed to me. I suspect that you do know. I don't need to introduce myself but at eleven o'clock, I want you in my office along with the rest of your friends for orientation. No buts, no exceptions, no excuses," DuFour said sweetly, with an underlying tone of severity. The beautiful woman turned on her expensive three inch heels and strode down the hall, her silver hair floating after her gracefully.

"By the way, Headmistress Faragonda wants all of you in her office in an hour," the woman tossed over her shoulder nonchalantly.

"Th-thanks!"

First thing in the morning and Bloom was already intimidated by the woman. Bloom ran a hand through her hair and checked that the letter was still in her pocket. She inspected it. She could feel the outline of the folded sheets and by looking at it in the light—wait, she wasn't supposed to do that!

"Ugh, I can't carry this in my pocket. It'll stick out like a sore thumb." She looked back to her purse. She was hungry and wanted to catch a quick bite. She grabbed her purse and shoved the letter in. She left the room quickly for the kitchen.

She grabbed a croissant from the kitchen and masticated it into nothingness by the time she got to Faragonda's office. She knocked and was let in. Faragonda was not at her desk but Bloom did see that the mirror to the Hall of Magic was opened. She stepped into the mirror frame and down the stairs to the dimly lit hidden library.

The room was bathed in golden light. It was a museum of artifacts that led to many obscure hallways underneath the school and sometimes held in pocket dimensions. She remembered the one hallway she had wondered into and encountered portraits of past enemies of the realm. She finally understood why Faragonda did not want her to see the portrait of the Black Circle. The history was too horrible and devastating for her mind. The horror that the wizards had unleashed, the vile plague that had destroyed Europe.

"Ms. F!" Bloom called out. She was not wont to lose herself in those hallways again.

Bloom turned down to what looked like a study area.

"Here, Bloom," the headmistress called back.

Bloom found the elderly woman sitting at a desk, hunched over a heavy book. In the corner was a forgotten cup of cold coffee, a half eaten plate of breakfast and an apple. Under her right hand, was the White Circle. On her left was a dark glowing sphere the size of a fist, something like a jewel. It was that same thing that had fallen out of her hand when Roxy exploded in the warehouse after the fight with the wizards, when she had been possessed by Nebula and she had filtered those strange memories.

The woman looked taxed. She examined the White Circle in her hands, trying to figure it out. She put it back down and looked to her ex-student.

"You're early," the old woman noted. "Did you eat yet? Is something the matter?"

"No. Ms. F, I have something for you from Sky." Bloom fumbled for the letter and handed it to the senior woman.

"What is this?" Faragonda glanced at the envelope, noting the lack of any form of addressing.

"I don't know but Sky was very strict about making sure no one knew that it existed." Bloom pulled a chair towards her and sat. "I don't know, miss, but he even went on about this weird thing about trust and loyalty."

"Let's see what he has to say." Faragonda conjured an envelope knife and cut it open. She read the letter slowly. After a few long minutes, she looked back to Bloom with arched eyebrows. "Bloom, do you know what is in this letter?"

"No." Bloom shook her head. "Is it about me?"

"No, but this is a very powerful letter. This goes beyond my own—well, you shouldn't know but this is very powerful." Faragonda sighed, surprised and unsure. She took a deep breathe and recomposed herself. "On another note, I'm glad that you came early. Sky's report says that they had to go through Roxy's mind before she committed amnesia. Do you think you can tell me what happened from your point of view? I know that it starts with you giving her the ring by accident."

Bloom placed her arms on the table before and stooped, placing her hands behind her like she was hiding her head. "Well, I gave it to her. I don't know what happened but the ring possessed her. It called itself Nebula and she found the wizards somehow and fought them. Like, she really wanted to kill them."

Bloom tried to explain the entire events as concisely as possible but she could not help but cry a little. She pulled out some tissue from purse, happy that she had brought it.

"I ran away with Andy and told him everything. I was so scared. Erendor was there and Sky was so mad. I never heard him talk like that before. I thought he was really going to hurt someone. When they caught us, I hurt some people so badly that I killed them. I killed Helia, miss! I mean, there was another girl but I didn't mean it! I tried to heal them but it was so hard. Even the Dragon was against them. I know that I shouldn't do that but I didn't mean to kill them! People shouldn't die for my mistakes, especially since I'm the Keeper of the Fire. And then there was Roxy and I felt so bad about that. It was all my fault and I couldn't do that to her or her dad.

"So, there was this witch Asta. She was the only one who could help. It was something stupid about being the only one with the right skills to do it. I said that I wanted to come too. She didn't want it but Sky forced her. She said she would only do it if Sky came and so all three of us went. It started normal with the bar but everything started changing to medieval Europe and a lot of weird things started happening. We found out how the Black Circle did it all. They really killed everyone with magic and-and…"

A steady pile of tissues was growing beside Bloom. Faragonda had conjured a box for her after running out from her purse.

"I used to think that it wasn't so bad. It happened such a long time ago that it didn't matter. There wasn't advanced medicine but I never realized that people could do that. I didn't know that people could make diseases that only targeted magical people. There were so many emotions. It hurt so much! There was so much death! The wizards had used fake names and put themselves in the best places in society to get rid of the magic. Some of them worked for the Church and the Church hated all the pagans so they usually killed them back then or converted them but…I just didn't think that it was that big. I didn't realise that it was like that. I just didn't—"

"It's okay, Bloom." Faragonda laid a comforting hand on Bloom's shoulder. "You can stop."

"O-okay." Bloom sniffed and blew into a tissue. She looked at Faragonda's heavy books, wanting to take mind off of the horrible memories. "What are you studying?" she stuttered.

"Bloom, did you know this is somebody's charmix?" Faragonda held the White Circle up gravely. "It has the magical essence of a charmix."

"Is it?" Bloom remembered the halo that Meadhbh had summoned and trapped everyone inside to fly to Sicily. Was it that? Yes, it had to be. "Then that means that belonged to the last fairy queen from Ireland. Oh, um, her name was Meadhbh. Her husband was Bladen and her kids were Steorra and…and, oh, Nebula. Oh God. Does that mean that Nebula is still alive somehow?"

"It might," Faragonda smiled hopefully.

"I thought charmixes were broaches and bags? And Meadhbh's dead so how does that work?" Nebula's memories had made that painfully clear that Meadhbh had died.

"Dear, a transformation is whatever the fairy wants it to be. Your clothes can be whatever you want them to be but your wings will always be the same. As to how a dead fairy's charmix still exists, I have no idea. It's perplexing me. This is one of those situations that has never come up before and I'm afraid I'm at a lost at where to start."

"And what about that?" Bloom pointed to the dark glowing sphere on Faragonda's left. "What is it?"

"It contains dark magic. This is more for Griffin and her staff. It dabbles in fields that I'm not sufficiently trained to handle. Contain it maybe but not outright control it. I heard that the Black Circle possibly have immortality. From what Sky understood, they were looking for fountains of youth on Earth for that."

"Immortality is forbidden, right?"

"Exactly. No one has the right to live forever."

"But how come? I don't get it."

"Everything happens in a cycle, Bloom. The universe is constantly changing, constantly moving but not forward or backward. Forward doesn't necessarily mean good and backward bad. They're just directions. It is the theory of stasis and change. Think of it as birth and death. Death follows birth, birth follows death. Take this apple for example," Faragonda said. She took sip of her cold coffee and the apple from her plate. She cleared the book and the artifacts to the side and placed the apple in front of them.

"This apple came a long way to get to my plate. If I threw this apple outside, what would happen? Don't imagine as if I ate it and I threw the core. Imagine that I threw out a perfectly good and whole apple like this one into the forest. What would happen? It would rot, right?"

"Right."

"It would rot and shrivel and no animal would want to eat it because it's full of mould and it's tasteless, right?"

"Right."

"Wrong, Bloom."

"What?"

"This is ecology, the basis for the cycle of life. Everything in nature is eaten and used. This is the law of the conservation of energy in its most basic form."

The conservation of energy law consisted of: 1) nothing is created, 2) nothing is lost and 3) everything is transformed. It was one of the basic theories that the imposter Professor Avalon had mentioned in passing in his Magic Philosophy classes in her second year.

"The mould that would form on this apple would eat it as well as the insects like the worms and parasites. Mould is a life form. Those are the small creatures that we take for granted. They would eat this apple until there was nothing left of it. No core, no skin and maybe not even the seeds. The mass of this apple would be in their stomachs. They ate this apple so that it could give them energy to survive. Once the apple goes through the stomach, you know that what is left is not an apple at all, right?" Faragonda arched one brow and smirked.

"Um, you mean…?"

"Fecal matter. Let's call it 'waste,' alright? Now, you know that some little worm left waste behind. What composes of that waste? The dead cells from the body, the indigestible parts maybe? It's in the soil, in the dirt of some garbage dump or maybe our garden in the back. Who would want to possibly eat the waste of a worm?"

"Aren't there plants that would eat it?"

"Yes, but why, Bloom?"

"I don't know."

"Plants can't always differentiate between what is waste and what is soil. What we might see as waste is food for something else. We decide think that waste is undesirable as a food because it simply looks disgusting, its constituency makes us sick and just smells horrible. We wouldn't eat it obviously. You would have to be insane to even think about it." Faragonda smiled.

"What consists of waste, Bloom? On an elemental level? Carbon, iron, sodium, oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen? Plants feed off of that to grow. They don't see the meaning of waste as we do. The waste decomposes and makes the soil rich with nutrients and the plants eat those nutrients through their roots. What used to be an apple gets metabolized by a tree or some plant, maybe an apple tree and in the end, that tree produces fruit. More apples. What was once an apple becomes an apple again and makes its way to my plate."

"What does this have to do with immortality though?"

"Everything happens in a cycle. Life and death; evil and good; light and darkness; yin and yang; femininity and masculinity. They are polar opposites but they are the constituents of harmony. You can't live with one without the other. They are what make this universe move. By move, I mean _change_.

"Think about where immortality fits into the cycle of life and death, Bloom. Where does immortality fit?"

"I don't know," Bloom said simply. The subject at hand was rather heavy for something so early in the morning.

"Think, Bloom," Faragonda urged. The woman pulled out a scrap piece of paper and pen. She wrote LIFE and DEATH on opposite ends of the paper and two arrows: one pointing from LIFE to DEATH and one pointing from DEATH to LIFE. She also drew a large circle that encompassed the entire cycle. In the very center of the page, she wrote MORTALITY. "Imagine that what is inside this circle is our universe, the universe that we know. It's closed and no one can get in or get out of the cycle of life. The cycle of life is called mortality. Where does immortality fit in this circle, Bloom? The Black Circle used to be mortal until they found a way to be immortal, Bloom."

Bloom examined the diagram, feeling on the verge of an epiphany. "Are they _outside_ the circle?"

"Yes, it's exactly that," Faragonda said. Her voice rose in volume. "No one is allowed outside of this circle. Immortality is considered _stasis_."

Bloom was silenced by the tone of the headmistress's voice. The seriousness and totality of her statement scared her.

"Mortal beings have immortal souls. The soul is the spark of life, the retainer of knowledge. It is what gives us a conscience and the ability to choose. It makes us different from one another. We feel emotions like love, desire, hate, sadness. The soul is also the seat of our magic. If you're a fairy, your affinity handpicks your soul and attaches itself to you. You fuse together to become a fairy. At some point in life when you have done their will or you've died, the affinity detaches itself from you and let's you go on. When we die, we go back to the universe until we attach ourselves to another mortal body and live again."

"I didn't know that."

"It's not in the curriculum for a reason, Bloom. This knowledge is powerful and not all fairies are like you. Some fairies are born for the necessity of evil. You are the exception to the rule of good and evil because you are the vessel of the Dragon. The Dragon is not always good, nor always evil. The Dragon is the watcher of the scales and chooses the side to keep that scale balanced.

"Immortal beings don't have souls. They live forever in one constant continuous life. They don't see the beginning or the end. Life is one giant journey for them. They have no need for a soul since they are never reincarnated. I've met very few immortals, most of them having lost their sanity. They have very little emotion even though they try to emulate us mortals to keep their sanity. Sometimes, it doesn't work and they lose their sense of self. Losing track of time onsets the insanity. Most immortals are agents of the Dragon, that is to say the daemons. Not all daemons are immortals. They are by lore and legend, the first children of the Great Dragon and the first people of this universe.

"I've been told that there is a powerful cauldron on Neicheusia that takes away their memories. This was their saving grace from their Father, the Dragon. The Dragon was merciful enough to put them out of their suffering by taking away their memory and therefore avoiding insanity. By drinking from the cauldron, it wiped their memory clean, even their names. To them, amnesia is their form of life and death."

"That's so sad," Bloom said. She had never met them or even heard of them until a day ago but it seemed that their way of living was so horrible. She could not imagine always suffering oneself to amnesia just to prevent insanity. Was that what Roxy had been subconsciously thinking? Amnesia just to make the pain go away. She never thought that living was so difficult until now. She liked to see things on bright-side, where everything was peachy-keen and full of joy. She supposed that her way of dealing with things was just to put the problem in the back of her mind until she could handle it.

Or just ran away from it if she could not handle it at all, she thought in retrospect.

"The immortal soul and the immortal body are incompatible, Bloom," Faragonda continued. "You're a living example of it. You have the powers of the Dragon—that is, the Dragon and your immortal soul—but the body of a mortal. When you die, all of your powers will be given to your firstborn child and your soul will attach itself to another body."

"Why can't you have both?"

"Because then you are a _god_ and that is unacceptable, Bloom."

* * *

**Latter Note:** Isn't that a terrifying idea? I've noticed that there's a lot more ideological discussion going on lately than actual action. That will change in a couple of chapters. I want to set up some ground rules before I go in dumping the Trix and the Black Circle on them. (Yeah, that immortality thing has been going on since...I don't know, chapter 3. Or June 2009? Really, go ahead and read it. What is this unhealthy fixation on immortality? I would argue that isn't that the absolute basis of eternal power? As long as you have it, you're set to conquer the universe. Erm, and that has been going on since the birth of Bloom maybe when the three ancestresses tried to destroy Sparks?)

If Roxy and Asta's conversation feels eerily familiar, it's because it's the same conversation that Roxy has with Bloom and Flora at the beginning of episode 10, Musa's Song.

If anyone wants to correct me on the law of the conservation of energy, please do. (That's something you don't see in a Winx Club fic...)


	37. Chapter 37

**Verboten  
****Chapter 37**

Friday, March 12, 2010

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Winx Club.

* * *

Flora shuffled about her room, trying to put things in order. She had only come back yesterday afternoon after dinner. Time difference made her stay up until it was early morning in Magix and she felt like a flower desperately trying to acclimate. She had not slept much, maybe five or four hours. After forcing herself out of bed and a shower, she had begun unpacking things, deciding that her walls were too plain. She unpacked a bag full of old books. To some, her collection was nostalgic. She had every book that she had ever used in school with her: magic, language, math, history, you name it, except for the one she gave to Roxy. She felt a slight pang having forgotten it but she quickly decided that it was better if the Earth fairy had it.

As she was placing her books on the shelf, she came across a green journal stuffed with scraps of paper. She could see _his_ writing on the loose pages. She closed her eyes and gripped the little book tightly.

Images of him and her sitting happily at a picnic table in the park, at the bar, on the beach just laughing and talking came to mind. He would often just stare off into the distance after they became silent from talking. She would find it awkward and embarrassing as she was so unfamiliar with the experience and then he would flow with words or something would spark his inspiration and he would be found scribbling on a piece of paper or napkin. Then she would say it was perfect and he would argue that it was not. He would say that he had done better but she would smile compliantly and keep the piece behind his back.

She could feel herself threaten to cry but before she could she hid the journal behind the books and placed the rest of the books in her hand, away from view.

She sat herself on her and bent her head into her lap, taking deep breathes.

There was a knock on Flora's door and she went to answer it.

"Hey, mind if I come in to talk?" Layla said. Something seemed off about her. There was a slight almost non-existent smile pulling at her cheeks but she was quick to quash it.

Flora herself felt emotionally numb but she hid it as well behind a cheery smile.

"Come in, come in. I was about to go to breakfast after I finished with the books."

"Are you okay, Flora? You look like you were crying."

"I'm just tired."

"Your voice sounds raspy. Is something wrong?"

"No, no." Flora sat on the bed. "What was it that you want to talk about?" Flora patted the space beside her on the bed.

Layla hopped on and sat cross-legged. She fidgeted for a moment, unsure of how to start. She was bouncing with energy. A grin that reached from ear to ear pulled at the dark woman's face occasionally. She stumbled with her words. "I…I don't know how to go about this. I've never really talked about this to anyone because I never needed to. You know how people don't really kiss in Nabu's kingdom?"

"Something happened?"

"Okay, we were on that floor with the aquarium and you know that room that he came out of?" Layla waved her hands about wildly, projecting her scattered thoughts. "I was in there and well, he kissed me!"

The water princess looked relieved to finally have gotten that off of her chest. Her face became more demure and the energy dissipated. She was struck by the boldness of her own statement and deeply embarrassed. "I know I look like I'm overreacting but this is _Nabu_. If this was any other guy, I wouldn't have made such a fuss about it but it's been on my mind since yesterday. Everything's been crazy with the things on Earth and he just suddenly comes out with _that_. I mean, what do I do? His people don't kiss. I just don't know what to think, Flora."

Layla rested her head on her hands. She her face twitched to smile, as if she were remembering the moment. She pouted her lower lip and looked to a corner of the room with her eyes glazed. Her eyebrows were knitted together showing that she was deeply troubled.

"Well…I'm glad for you, I guess," Flora said slowly. Truly, she was happy. She was just was not showing it outwardly. Her happiness for her friend was inside her heart.

"Thanks," Layla said sincerely. She was grateful that Flora was not one to blow up over the slightest details of her rants, especially the ones that involved her fixed love life. "I need your help on this 'cause I just don't know what to think."

"What do you mean? Aren't you happy?"

"I _am_…but I have this feeling. I'm not confident about it, about the entire thing. It just felt wrong after the fact when I thought about it."

"Well, you like him, right?"

"Of course I do! I mean, well…"

"If you had never been engaged to him, Layla, would you have ever thought of dating him?" Flora said.

Layla opened her mouth to speak and then closed it, afraid of what she was going to say.

"Layla?"

"I'm not sure. I mean maybe if had know that he had existed but I never met him until he bumped into us in Magix. I didn't even know that he existed until then. I met his parents a couple of times but that wasn't much. It's not as if they just talked to me just about their son. They mentioned that they had one but I always thought that it was some kid."

"Layla!"

"Well, I guess not. He's a merman afterall. It never occurred to me to look at them like that. They're just so savage, so archaic. They're like animals sometimes."

"But Nabu's not an animal." Flora caught her pet cat Coco in the air and settled her in her lap. Coco purred. "He's not like Coco, is he?"

"No, Nabu's more than that. He's like the perfect gentlemen almost all the time. I've never seen him angry. Can he even get angry? When I saw him in the tank, I was horrified to see him in the tank. There are places where mermaids are only pets and I thought Sky had…I know Sky isn't like that but I was so scared, Flora. I just suddenly remembered how fragile his world was. In the water, I could tell that he was so…not angry but concerned. Maybe worried. He kept his sight on me the entire time. The way he did that just reminded me of so many things."

"Do you think he kissed you because of that? Do you think that he did it maybe to make you happy or reassure you? He understands what it means right?"

"I'm sure he does—understand a kiss, that is. Like, I know that he likes annoying me because I'm a fairy and a human. He just likes picking at human culture sometimes and that's the way he went about it."

Flora smiled, figuring the rest for herself. "I won't pry about the details."

"I'm so confused. I'm happy, but confused."

"Maybe you should call him?" the flower fairy offered.

"He doesn't own a phone. Underwater, you know…"

"Well, I don't think calling one of the guys and asking to get Nabu on the phone wouldn't hurt."

Layla sighed. "Maybe. Hey, thanks for putting up with me. And you? How was Helia? You guys didn't really say anything to each other when we left."

Flora stared at her bookshelf and swallowed hard. "We…he broke up with me."

"What?!" Layla raged. "How? Why?"

Flora shut her mouth, unwilling to talk.

"Flora, you have to tell me. Why? Did he blame you or something?"

"I just don't want to think about it right now," she quivered.

Layla moved to wrap a comforting arm around her friend.

There was a knock on the door. "Hey, um, Flora, if you can hear me, me and some of the others were wondering if you were going to come down for breakfast. We need to meet Faragonda ASAP," Stella said to the door.

-

"Gotta say, it's really strange to be back at Alfea," Musa said.

"Well, I'm glad that you're all back!" Chatta stated.

The pixies were scattered across the table, chatting with their respective bonded fairies. Stella entered the dining hall. Layla and Flora soon followed after.

"Bloom's not coming?" Lockette said.

"Her room is locked," the sun princess said.

"Is something the matter?" Amore said.

"No, I mean she's not in her room at all."

Lockette fumbled with her key-shaped staff. "Maybe she went to Faragonda early. She's been having troubles lately, I can tell."

"Lockette, I'm sure it's nothing she can't handle. She seemed pretty fine when she said goodbye to Sky." Tecna sipped her coffee. She turned to Digit. "How is the Tree of Life? Are there more blossoms on the branch for Earth?"

"There are five buds but nothing bloomed except for the one that belongs to Roxy. It grew exponentially fast that we thought it was going to die." Digit projected an image from her wrist of the Tree of Life showing the lonely branch that represented Earth's magic. "Are you sure that Roxy is fine by herself?"

"She's in good hands, Digit. The men are not useless. They are trained for this," Tune said primly. "We must get going. It's almost time to meet Faragonda."

A few minutes and down a magical mirror later, they found themselves in the Hall of Magic. Still getting used to the existence of the golden room, the fairies and pixies could not help but stare in awe for a bit. They found Faragonda and Bloom submersed in profound silence. Bloom had a face that said she was thinking heavily.

"Good morning, girls," Faragonda said.

They returned the greeting and each took a seat. The pixies stood on the table, or as Piff did, on their bonded fairy's shoulder.

"So, what's going on?" Tecna asked tentatively. "Madame DuFour came in saying that we would still be interns."

"You must if you want to stay at Alfea, girls. I can't just give free-housing, unfortunately," Faragonda said.

"So how do we work that in while trying to find the Trix?"

"At the moment, we still aren't sure if the Trix are up to _anything_ at all."

"It's the Trix. What else do you need?" Stella said.

"People can change, Stella. Those witches are no exceptions."

"But that lady from the video called her Stormy and Stormy's grandmother Cosima. That should be proof enough."

"And how do we know that Verena doesn't just have a hard time recognizing faces?"

"Stormy acted like she had two personalities—"

"The Stormy that we know didn't speak until Verena mentioned Cosima. It doesn't mean anything unless we find a definitive piece of proof."

Stella crossed her arms, stumped. "Fine, so what are we supposed to do?"

"If the Trix are up to something, you must keep up the appearance of being unaware by continuing your duties as interns here if they happened to be watching. At the same time, you have to use that time wisely and be in peak shape to handle anything that may come."

"That's going to be difficult, miss." Tecna said. "We need to plan classes and train?"

"Ladies, it's going to be even tougher than that. You need to train to be stronger than you are now. Peace, although a good thing, makes us rusty and out of shape. You're not like your men. Those boys train their body everyday to keep in shape. And if the Trix are back, there is no doubt in my mind that they're going to be stronger, especially after a year and a half."

"That's going to be hard!" Musa said. The other girls mumbled similar things.

"I know," Faragonda said sadly. "Know that the Hall of Magic is always at your disposal. The forbidden section in the student library and Concorda's library are also available to you. Even the libraries of Cloud Tower and Red Fountain are opened. Don't feel limited by Alfea because it's conveniently at home. We aren't be-all and end-all of magic. Not everything is learnt in a book, which brings on to my next order of business for all of you.

"Your journey as a fairy has already begun, for sure but you have glaring weaknesses that could be exploited."

All the girls looked at each other, trying to think of each other's weakness.

"As a group, you are powerful but individually, you're easy picking for some people. Musa, what would you do if you were totally deprived of your voice? How would you cast your spells or sing your stronger enchantments? Surely not with your flute? And if someone broke your flute? Stella, what if you were in a world of complete darkness? You're reliant on your powers from the light of a star. I'll discuss this later with each of you individually but you have to think of it. Some of you can fall under the slightest of conditions."

"You want us to train so that our weaknesses can't be used against us?" Tecna asked.

"Yes. You must each find a mentor of your own because we at Alfea can no longer teach you," Faragonda breathed out. There was a disappointed look on her face.

"And how do we find a mentor?"

"They find you."

-

**In Magix.**

"Thank you for traveling with Aerospace Solaria, Mr. Marquis. We hope your—" the stewardess stopped mid-sentence as the man who had ordered a private chartered shuttle to Magix waved her off flippantly. He grabbed his suitcase and left.

The man was surprisingly young, about twenty-five years but extremely powerful in both body and mind. It had been years, about three to be exact, since he had returned to Magix since his stupid father's last scandal but he was not his father. He had short black hair that gleamed blue, a strong square jaw and poignant dark blue eyes that hid his calculative thoughts well. He was tall but lithe, not lanky. He had finished puberty a long time ago. He wore dark pants, leather shoes and a loose linen shirt. His black suit jacket was in his arm and he gave off the feeling of classic good looks.

He was sick of naïve fairies and even more narrow-minded witches. Of the three schools in Magix, the only respect that he had was for the men of Red Fountain and those with power, not magic but real power, the kind that swayed the masses.

To put it blunt, he was an arms dealer. He owned the market on weapons in this corner of the universe and he thought that it was fine time to restart that business branch in Magix again. The branch had never worked out three years ago when his father stupidly made a couple of calculative mistakes that sent them into running but he was not his father. He would not make the same mistake, he was better. He knew the mistakes that his father had made.

Magix was a place of education and culture, but underneath it all, it was a culture of garbage and lies. It was a society run by paranoia and the disgusting lust for knowledge. It was a city that had been ransacked by the Army of Decay and destroyed by Valtor. It had trembled and felt the magical shockwaves as Realix was opened. All of the while, the city's denizens stood helplessly in face of these crisises. What was once a peaceful city was turning into a militia government under the direction of those senile idiots in the Council of Magix. The only notable militia that the city ever had was the Red Fountain specialists. They were the closest thing they had to an offensive force.

The city was built inside the valley of several treacherous mountains. It was a cradle of magic with Shadowhaunt standing bastion over it and numb spots that dotted the forest. Numb spots were regions in which magic was completely rendered null due to the microscopic fragments of the Shaab Stone. The biggest fragments of the stone had been removed (and subject to a scandal of one of Red Fountain's finest) but the finer pieces, like the dust and pebbles were simply impossible. It was also a strategically bad place to defend from attacks outside the mountains, especially from the air but that was the least of their worries. Most of their problems had originated from their infamous problematic magic schools.

What it all meant was that now was a perfect time to open a branch in Magix. There was a need for weapons to protect the masses and he was going to supply it. Sure, there were a couple of competitors but one dealt with only vehicles and the other was a mercenary agency. Perfect. Maybe he could somehow arrange it so that they all worked together.

He made a mental note of it. They were going to own Magix.

Outside the spaceport, his black racecar hovered arrogantly waiting for him. The car just screamed the arrogance and swagger of the owner. He threw his case in and got in the driver's seat. It was more than obvious that this man was overconfident and liked to strut his power about.

He floored it and sped out onto the highway. His car was like a bullet. On both sides of the road were miles of forest. The spaceport was just a little out of the way from the main city. There was no one on the road. That's how he liked it. He had dabbled into underground racing before he had to take over the family business and he was more than happy to do a couple of conceited drifts around some corners.

On the horizon, he could slowly see the spires of Cloud Tower on his left rising to compete with the skyscrapers of Magix on the right over a view of the lake. Alfea sat at the foot of Magix. He rolled down the window and let the wind ruffle his hair.

"_Come to me,  
__flesh of witch._"

He braked so suddenly that he thought that he was going to flip over. He must have been hallucinating. Maybe he should slow down with the speed. After all, Magix was a completely different atmosphere to Solaria. The differences were subtle but important.

No, he had not been hallucinating. Something wrong. Or he was paranoid. Was the change in air making him imagine voices? That voice had been eerily too familiar. It was a voice that he had not heard in a long time and did not want to ever hear. He began to drive again, taking his time.

"_Come to me,  
__flesh of witch.  
__Come to me,  
__black soul and heart of fire._"

He stopped the car again, his heart racing. "What the fuck is wrong with you?!" he said to himself.

His hands were clammy but he drove still. Once he got to his penthouse, he going to down a couple of sleeping pills and throw himself into a bed, he told himself. He needed to acclimate.

Out of nowhere, a woman in black and purple appeared in the middle of the road with her back to him and he swerved out of the way to avoid hitting her. He came to a stop again and looked back to see what happened to the woman. The road behind him was devoid of life, as if the woman had never been there.

He looked forward to the road ahead of him. "Holy shi—!" A finger was placed on his lips, magically taking away his voice. He stared into viperous golden eyes.

There was a woman on him. She had dirty blond hair and wore a retro purple suit jacket over a black outfit that showed her neck. One heeled foot was near the gearshift and her knee was between her legs. With glowing eyes, she shoved a down his partly opened shirt and the other around his neck with an iron grip.

He tried to raise a hand against her but his body would not listen. He felt the magic flow from her hands into his body. He felt something grip his heart. It was a choking dying-like feeling. He could feel the innately dark and raw magic flow into him. Some black and shapeless, like a shadow flowed out of her sleeves and onto his neck. It went down his shirt. The magic annulled his will to fight against his attacker. The magic was claiming the seat of his soul.

"_Come to me,  
__flesh of witch._"

He could feel the inky mass on his chest spread. It was like a million insects crawling all over him. It settled on his skin satisfied and then there was the sensation of burning, like hot iron was being pressed into his skin. He tried to scream in vain. A dozen tendrils appeared out from under his assailant's hand and the pierced his chest like needles. Those needle-like tendrils were flushing something into him. It was like his body was slowing down, becoming weaker, anaesthetizing him.

It was the same spell that his entire family had suffered while they were still in the Whisperian Coven. The Whisperian Coven was comprised of dozens of witch families from all over the universe and had settled in an untamed world that they had named Whisperia. There, they had study magic in solitude and eventually, understood the secrets of the universe. The higher echelons of the Coven had enslaved his parents to do their bidding when they came of age. This was the spell that his mother and father warned him about and that the Coven was renowned for developing the spell of enslavement. His parents told him to stay as far away from whatever was left of the Coven when he was growing up.

It was not simply hypnotism or persuasive suggestion, the spell of enslavement. It was a parasitic relationship where the master could extort the slave to do anything. As long as the slave did the master's bidding, the master would not destroy the slave's soul. In death, the soul would leave if the body was incapable of functioning. It was the same for the reverse. If there was no soul, the body would simply die, or decay from lack of use.

"_Come to me,  
__flesh of witch.  
__Come to me,  
__black soul and heart of fire.  
__Come to me,  
__my merchant of death.  
__And as your fathers and mothers before you,  
__be the servant of the Coven,  
__Darko il Nero._"

The purple witch smiled triumphantly as the symbol of a spider appeared under her hand in his shirt. The spell settled in nicely and he slowly regained control of his body.

"DARCY, YOU BITCH!" The man reached for the witch's neck in retaliation, intent on strangling her.

Darcy pushed his hands away as if she was swatting flies away and they fell limply to his side. The spell was working nicely. "You're under my spell, prettyboy. You cannot hurt me, or _us_. Your family owes the Coven and it's time to pay up," her voice reverberated through his bones. She opened his shirt and traced a cold finger over the spider tattoo at the base of his neck and over his heart. "I think that you are familiar with the binding spell of the Coven. You were too young to have the spell cast on you but look at you!" she cooed. "You're all grown up and successful in life! We are so proud of you but your parents unfortunately, are another issue.

"Your parents abandoned the Coven as soon as we fell and the Company of Light ransacked our home, _your home_, darling, the one where you were born. Are you so steel-hearted from your success that you would turn your back on your birthplace? Your soul is bound to our will now."

There was more than one person speaking, he knew it, he felt it. Something much older and terrible was at work than what he saw in front of him. He could recognize the soft voice, the erudite accent behind Darcy's deeper voice. He recognised the voice but could not quite fit a face with it.

"When we call, you will come and serve the Coven. You will pay for your family's betrayal."

In an instance, as if nothing had happened, Darcy disappeared like a ghost, teleporting herself away. The pressure of her weight was suddenly gone and that suffocating feeling from the spell disappeared. He looked down to the tattoo that burned on his chest: the spider curled over his heart.

* * *

**Latter Note:** What do I say? Are you the reader thinking 'what the hell was that with the guy in the car and Darcy?!'?

Go to my forum, if you really want to know: Kikurukina's Technical Stuff: Winx Club, thread Rants. Or, read issue 27 of the Winx Club comics.

This video might be enlightening or confusing but you'll get an idea if you're too lazy to do either: please go to my blog which is now my homepage on my profile. See the post 'Icy and Darko.'


	38. Chapter 38

**Verboten  
****Chapter 38**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own the Winx Club.

**Fore Note:** I probably messed up on a bunch of astrophysical and biological technicalities in the beginning so forgive me. (There's also computer technicalities. I don't claim to be an expert. That's my disclaimer.)

* * *

In a system inside the Milky Way galaxy, there was a yellow-white sun that was vital to the survival of one planet and fatal to another. A dozen planets orbited the star. It was approximately three hundred and ten light-years away from the Earth and was commonly called Canopus. In this system, it was called Soheila, named after the previous Fairy of the Sun and the Moon. The name of its sun always changed and took on the name of the last deceased fairy of that affinity.

Only two planets contained life, Solaria and Lunaria. These two sister planets had a synchronous orbit. Lunaria was constantly in Solaria's umbra no matter where in their orbit around their sun they were. Solaria was the planet of light while Lunaria was the planet of darkness.

Solarians thrived on the light of the sun. That was the basis of their evolution on their planet. They harnessed the sun's radiation in their biology. UV intake was an essential part of a Solarian's being and without even at least one hour's worth of sunshine, they would die.

To Lunaria, Solaria was their moon. In Lunaria, very little light from the sun of Soheila ever touched the planet. To them, Solaria was a daily annular solar eclipse, a very thin white ring of light in the sky. Nighttime was when Lunaria faced Solaria and the eclipsed sun, daytime was when the planet faced the rest of the stars and galaxies (something that would have been effectively called nighttime on Earth). Lunarians with anymore sunlight than what they had been evolved to intake from the eclipsed sun would have decimated all of life on their planet.

"Your Majesty, um, your—" the highly decorated and robed secretary searched for the appropriate terms, "—Queen has arrived." The poor secretary tried to look small and nonexistent as the King of Solaria jumped out of his seat and turned to his secretary with a pointed look.

"What?"

"Queen Luna has arrived. She came, well, you know, she fell out of the sky like a shining star, sir. Just like usual."

"And why didn't you inform me that she was coming to visit today?" the king said tensely. The king was tense for many reasons, mostly because his ex-wife was still Queen after the Cassandra debacle. Luna had disappeared from court after the divorce and had seemingly cut all forms of communication off. When the entire ordeal was over, Luna had reappeared and everyone had voted that she remained Queen despite the apparent separation, her puzzling disappearing and the rumours that had ensued.

He grabbed his fur-lined red mantle off the back of his chair and fastened the golden clasps to his shoulders. He was in plain clothes, as plain as he possibly could for the King of Solaria, and wore a golden circlet with protruding spikes representing the golden rays of the sun.

"I was not informed that she was coming."

"It's your job to be informed." Radius exited his office and walked briskly towards the gardens where he was sure his ex-wife would be coming from.

"Sir, no one knew that she was coming at all. She didn't give any kind of message, no letter, no call on record," the secretary said.

The king grunted and was halfway down a set of grand staircases when Luna nonchalantly walked up passed him, without any sort of acknowledgement. Radius stopped and turned to look at Luna who was making her way up.

Luna was radian as the brightest sun. She wore an impossibly white stola, spun with silver threads. A stola was a long pleated dress. Hers was held up by straps. Her blond knee-length hair was down and shone like a mirror…except there were leaves and twigs haphazardly strewn in her hair as if she had walked through a storm.

"Luna, you look like a wild child! Where did you come from? And-nd are you weren't anything under that dress?!" Radius said, following her back up the stairs. Traditionally, a tunica intima, the equivalent of a slip or undergarment, was supposed to be worn under the stola. Luna was apparently not wearing any. Luna's dress flew after her and he could see that she was barefoot.

"No, but talk anymore about it and the servants might think that you're vaguely interested, Radius. I'm not in the mood to deal with rumours again."

"Why are you here, Luna?" Radius pressed.

"Do I need a reason to go to my own castle?"

"Last time I checked, you abhor this planet."

The shining queen stopped and turned sharply. Radius almost walked into her. "I hate your world, Radius. I hate your people. Don't mistake it for hating the planet. I love this planet more than you can imagine, even more than my own daughter."

"What would you do if Stella heard that, Luna?"

"What do I care anymore, Radius? The girl has obviously abandoned her mother for her ever-doting father. Who am I to question how to raise a child? I am only a fairy who watches the universe grow on its endless journey to infinity," the woman said bitterly. "I've said all I've needed to when we separated. We are King and Queen, not husband and wife. I have no bearing on Stella's growth anymore as a mother. My duties are to make sure she understands her role as the guardian of our planets and defender of our sun. That is it."

"I thought you _cared_! She's your flesh and blood, for the light of the sun!"

"I care because she still has sentimental attachment to me from being born from my womb. I do it for her sanity, not mine. I am her biological mother but she's all grown up now. I cannot choose what she wants except for her duties as a fairy."

"This is your daughter!" Radius roared.

"Stella is the Fairy of Solaria's Sun and Lunaria's Moon," Luna said finally and turned back up the stairs. "You've turned her into a despicable child, sheltered in gold and jewels, covered in frivolous finery, sucked into the dirty game of money."

"You wanted to send her into the forest for a week without food or people when she was five. That is not befitting a princess!"

"Do I need to explain to you the methods of the fairy, again? Should talk about how my theology is actually reality? If all we're going to do is argue, why don't we just stop talking? Go back to your office Radius and leave me alone."

Radius became silent. It was the same argument all over again. This had been the cause for the separation: how they should have raised Stella. Luna knew the moment that Stella was conceived that her daughter would be her successor as the Fairy of the Sun and the Moon. Radius also knew that but it worries had been placed on the well-being of his kingdom and what the impact of his first-born child being a girl was.

The first couple of years of Stella's childhood was like a far-off dream to Radius. He remembered happier times when he and Luna would walk in the garden hand-in-hand, smiling at Stella as she discovered the world. There had been talk of a second child as soon as Stella started formal schooling.

"I want this child not only because I want it, but because I want Stella to understand the joy of life," Luna had said years ago.

That second child never happened when Luna had started to frequently pull Stella out of school for days on end. Where Luna brought her, no one knew. When Radius brought it up about how it would be detrimental to Stella's social skills, this was what Luna said: "Social skills, honey, Stella has much more pressing things to learn than making friends and learning the social ladder."

"And what about reading and math?"

"I think understanding the workings of our universe are much more important than knowing the names of her would-be suitors and their phone numbers."

"What are you teaching her, Luna?" Radius voice had taken a dangerous tone.

"Everything she needs to know."

One evening as Radius tucked Stella into bed and Luna had been off to host a quiet dinner, Radius had asked her the same question.

"Mommy calls them life lessons. She teaches me about the people of Solaria and how they need Soheila," little Stella yawned and hugged a pillow. "She showed me that everyone, not just the people but the flowers and your doves needed Soheila. She said that everything was connected and they needed each other. One time, she flew me into the sky and showed me Solaria. We were so far away from the castle that the sky became black and there were stars and I saw Soheila for myself! I even saw a bit of Lunaria! I never knew that it was so dark for them.

"Mommy says that Lunaria is very pretty. I want to see it, Daddy? Can I? Did you know that Mommy is a very pretty fairy? Her wings are big and sparkly and she flies so fast! She says that I can be just like her!" Stella's eyes glazed as she remembered flying with her mother.

Radius's heart had stopped when he realized that his daughter had flown in space with her mother. Stella held her pillow tightly and downcast her eyes.

"Daddy, are you mad?"

Radius was snapped out of his shocked stupour. He smiled to assuage his daughter after Stella saw his angry face. "It's alright. I'm just shocked, that's all. Now, it's time to sleep, darling. We'll talk about your adventures tomorrow." Radius rose to turn off the lights.

"Daddy?"

"Yes?" Radius had turned off the lights when he responded. Stella's eyes were luminous in the darkness.

"Mommy said that tonight is a very important night."

"Yes, it is," he had said uneasily.

"She says that tonight was the night that the planet Sparks died and the Great Dragon abandoned us. Why did He abandon us?"

"Stella, it's time to sleep, okay?"

She nodded and settled in bed. Radius had closed the door and made his way back to the dinner with the remaining members of the Company of Light. Back then, it had been generally believed that Great Dragon had abandoned them when He had refused to interfere in the events of the destruction of Sparks.

After that, the arguments had ensued.

"Stella, shouldn't know about that!"

"She needs to understand what her role in this universe is!"

"She's too young to understand death."

"Quite the contrary, she understands the role of death and birth!"

"Her role is Imperial Princess of Solaria!"

"She is the Fairy of the Sun and the Moon! That's more important!"

Of course, the King of Solaria had won, no questions asked. Luna was after all a woman in a patriarchal society. Fairy or not, Radius had the final say and an entire platoon of guards ordered to follow Stella wherever she went. If they could not follow their princess, the princess could not go. Stella had soon returned to regular schooling after that.

Eventually, the bitterness had built up when Luna could not show Stella the wonders of the universe. Radius and Luna argued and argued until one day, Luna just stopped caring about the family altogether. She stopped talking to Radius and barely even acknowledged Stella's existence other than that she was a child wondering around a big castle. She had become a woman who just resided at the imperial palace and was called the Queen of Solaria.

In the present, Luna had reached the final floor of the staircase and turned left down the hallway.

"Where are you going, Luna?" Radius asked. He had a bad feeling.

Luna came to a stop in front of a set of tall golden double doors at the end of the hall. The doors opened for her and Radius was briefly blinded by the light that spilled out of the room. The light receded and he followed his ex-wife into the Steeple of the Sun. The doors closed behind them heavily. The steeple was a plain stone chamber except for the pedestal in the middle. On the pedestal was a ball of light that floated, the Sun of Solaria. It was not the real sun as in the one that floated in the sky but a representation of it. It radiated a feeling of joy and warmth that had Radius forgetting his anger momentarily.

"Luna, what are you doing?" Radius asked again.

"Holy Soheila," Luna exalted the miniature sun on the pedestal. The queen fell to her knees and bent her head as low as possible. Radius was bothered the low back of Luna's gown. The queen's shimmering silver wings sprouted from her back.

There was another moment of blinding light again and Radius gasped when the sun had disappeared. In its place was translucent specter, much like the nymph Dafne. The specter was a woman and had long wavy hair with smiling eyes, half there but half not as if threading two worlds. She wore a simple stola like Luna and her wings reached from wall to wall and ceiling to floor. She glowed blue and was beautiful as a statue.

Radius instinctively fell to one knee in face of the god-like being. All Fairies of the Sun and the Moon when they died returned themselves to the universe and became the spiritual guardian of her succeeding fairy. Soheila had left the world of the living a long time ago but she was still present in the little ways when she made the sun shine brighter than other days. She was a ghost that guided Luna, a very powerful one. She was the embodiment of the sun, a veritable god, Luna and Stella's fairy affinity.

"Luna," the specter Soheila said. "Rise and face me. You as well, King Radius."

Luna rose. "You summoned me, Holy Soheila."

"I have a new task for you," the specter smiled.

Luna waited for her instructions.

"Stella has returned to Magix. Time is of the essence and you must act swiftly. Something is going to come, a great engulfing darkness," Soheila said grimly.

"A darkness? What kind?"

"My reign…it will end soon…"

"What do you mean your reign will end?!" Radius asked.

Soheila looked to Luna meaningfully.

"What do I need to do?" Luna asked.

"Stella, your successor, she needs to…understand our power. It is immense our power, which is why it is so burdensome. The Great Father Dragon bequeathed us the Scepter of Solaria because he saw that we understood his vast love for all of his creations. Luna, I am a soul who has yet to reattach itself to a new body. I reside in the void and it is lonely. You must teach your daughter the secrets of the scepter because the Great Father will need her in time."

"Holy Soheila, pardon me," Luna fell to one knee with her head canted. "Why her? Why not me?"

"You won't be there. Luna, you have to believe in Stella, she is your blood, too. No matter what happened between the both of you, what matters most is Stella."

Radius and Luna jolted. Luna recovered first. "So, I must teach Stella what I wasn't allowed to teach her when she was a child?" Radius could hear the poison in her voice.

"Yes."

"Stop!" Radius commanded. "Stella is our Imperial Princess, she's my daughter!"

"Her roles behind her conception far exceed the dozens of titles that you've attached to her name, Radius," Soheila said. "You must let go of her. Right now, she needs her mother."

-

She needed a mentor. The thought plagued Tecna. The technology fairy sat cross-legged on her bed, trying to meditate as another part of her mind was telepathically wondering cyberspace for anything associated with the word 'mentor.' Apprenticeship came to mind and she supposed that it was probably something like that but she was not sure. Despite the size of the web, there was scant information on topics pertaining to magic, especially when it involved higher learning.

She was the fairy of technology. She could telepathically connect to almost every computer in the universe so long as it was close enough and was connected to the web. Her medium for telepathy involved the internet and she practiced her new ability with zeal. Ever since graduation, she had felt so complete after she finally graduated. When she received her diploma in the bejeweled box, as soon as the box opened she felt as if some higher god had spoken to her. In that god's words was the secret to connect to everything digital. She finally understood the extent of her powers and she was awed by what she was capable of.

On Earth, she had streamed information at a mind-blowing speed and Bloom had been amazed by what she had accomplished in a few simple hours. The Earth's internet was so small compared to the universe, Tecna thought.

Standing in cyberspace with Digit just over her virtual shoulder, they stood back looking at their search engine. They passed another dozen words through it and translated thousands of languages but nothing was useful. It was all the basics. A person apprenticed themselves to a mentor or teacher to learn or become better at whatever they had been hoping to learn.

"And what about your weakness that Faragonda was talking about?" Digit asked.

"Do you think we have a weakness, Digit? Other than water, I mean, when you throw it on a computer." Tecna reasoned.

"You're right. Digital technology has more strengths than weaknesses."

"We can do so many things with just the internet. We can learn about the life of one person if one knew how and where to look. We can learn weaknesses in an instant but what weakness does a fairy of technology have? I'm afraid to say none."

"My thoughts exactly…" Tecna ran another string of search words in vain.

"But?"

"Perfection is impossible when you account for my natural flaws, the ones that I'm born with."

"Like your emotions?"

"Well, yes. So that means that I'm imperfect and by being imperfect, I must have a flaw."

The pixie and fairy were silent.

"I don't want to think about this anymore," Tecna said.

"I agree. We should not be too preoccupied. Faragonda said that she would help so maybe she knows. Let's do something more productive, Tecna." Digit smiled reassuringly. "What about the Trix?"

"Right! Thank you for reminding me. At Red Fountain, we watched a video of what was possibly Stormy."

"Can I see it?"

"Of course." Tecna tossed a video file to Digit. "What do you think?" she asked after a while.

"It looks like Stormy but the woman Verena called her Cosima. As in the Cosima of the Ancestral Witches?" Digit sat on Tecna's shoulder pondering.

"That's what we think."

"Impossible. Bloom destroyed them with Obsidian, didn't she?"

"We think she did. There really is no way to confirm a spiritual death is there, especially when the place of death is destroyed?"

"That's true. So then all that they we've thought as the truth is just a bunch of conjectures and theories."

"Exactly."

"What do we do, then? Where do we start?"

"The woman Nina, she's the one gave us the lead. Maybe we should look into that ourselves just in case."

Digit agreed. Tecna opened the file with the contact for the daemoness Nina. All the woman had left was an email address and a phone number. The technology fairy tried the email first. She opened a dummy account, made a quick message to confirm that this address belonged to Nina and sent it through a remailer to scramble the message until it reached the other end.

"That should be sufficient," Tecna said.

"I don't like the username of the address," Digit said. "Puppetmaster006?"

"You're thinking way too deeply about this. It's only a name. Have you seen some of mine, Digit?"

"But they all mean you in some little way! Purplefairy, techiegirl79?"

"Look, be happy its not marionettevirus1, okay?"

"The Marionette Virus is dangerous, Tecna, especially for us. That thing rewrites the entire OS of machines and makes it go haywire. They usually attack people!"

"But that's for military computers only, Digit. Like the fightercraft. It's fine."

"And what about Red Fountain? It's a military school."

"Digit, stop it!" Tecna plucked Digit off her shoulder and put her on one outstretched palm. "I don't understand why you're so jumpy all of a sudden."

"I care for you, Tecna. I feel that something bad is going to happen." Digit chewed on her bottom lip and her eyes glistened. "I don't know what's going to happen and this is surely illogical of me but I feel that I'm going to lose you!"

Tecna was silenced by the thought.

"Digit, I'm not going to leave you," the fairy reassured.

She turned slightly and noticed that her email had been replied to. She opened it and suddenly, she could feel something at the operating system. The sensation was akin to standing in an earthquake with everything falling on you. She felt the OS being shredded to pieces. The virtual floor, wall and ceiling were falling over into digital recycling bin in heaven around her, file by file. The email she had opened became an all-consuming black hole and Tecna took flight on her green glider wings, putting as much distance between her and the email while holding Digit tightly in her hand. She activated all her firewalls but it was too late. The OS was not strong enough to put up the firewalls.

"Digit, get out!" Tecna threw the pixie at the USB portal.

"No, Tecna!" Digit struggled against Tecna's had as she was forced down the portal. The digital pixie found herself in the real world on Tecna's laptop keyboard. She turned back to the screen and tried to upload herself back in. The last thing Digit saw was Tecna's turquoise blue eyes before the screen blacked out and the mauve laptop shut down.

Her tiny heart racing, Digit tried to push the On button to no avail. She turned to Tecna's body and tried to shake her out of her trance-like state. The fairy fell limply back unto her bed.

"No, no, no! Tecna?! You can't—no! Tecna?!" Digit cried.

-

…  
MARIONETTE AI UNIT DOWNLOADING…  
MARIONETTE AI UNIT DOWNLOAD COMPLETE…  
EXECUTING MARIONETTE AI UNIT …  
RUNNING DIAGNOSTIC…

WAKE UP FAIRY.  
My name is Marionette_

* * *

**Latter Note:** So what do I say? This is becoming increasingly difficult to talk about.

God, this keeps slipping my mind but hey, I got 100 reviews. That's a milestone, right? Thanks to Stills and Photographs for that.

- Kiku


	39. Chapter 39

**Verboten  
****Chapter 39**

Friday, March 26, 2010

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Winx Club

**Fore Note:** Let's admit it; everyone is influenced by the environment around them. Mine includes a marathon of James Bond movies on the flat screen which just set the tone for the way I'm going to write the future chapters.

* * *

**On Earth.**

"There are thirteen lessons in magic, or principles," Asta said. She sat at the end of the bar. Business was somber and it was the afternoon. The witch gulped her tea and poured another cup from her pot: cinnamon. "This book is written for people already understand the principles." Asta pointed at the _Basic Magic: Level One_ book. "Hmm, the author is also a teacher at Alfea. Interesting. Anyways…"

Roxy cut in. "But I can do some of the spells already. Or the really basic ones." She remembered the incident with the vacuum on the ceiling.

"Just because you can do the spells does not mean you understand the value of them or your powers or the entire study of magic. Magic is the circumventing of the laws of physics or creating a force that negates the laws. With magic, anything that is not possible in the physical world is possible."

"Like what?"

"Bringing people back to life is one." Asta became pensive for a moment. "It requires a great amount of energy. An eye for an eye, almost. You can't take without giving. Actually, that's a morbid idea. Let's try something happier like flying. Gravity and weight is the force that pulls you down but lift is the force that pulls you up. A fairy can fly because she has wings but a witch can fly because they are using magic. Most witches use the concept of gravity negation in the area around them to fly while others might use strong winds to keep them up. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"I think I do."

"It helps to have an imagination."

"So these lessons…?"

"They teach you the mindset that you need to perform magic. Don't be daunted. If you can already do the spells in this book, you've already got the difficult part over."

"Really?" Roxy was flooded with relief. "So how do I learn these lessons?"

"They're a series of…hmm, self-discoveries or journeys. When I was young, my mother and I did not live in the house for the most part." Asta placed her chin on her hand, thinking deeply. "This is extremely difficult. I didn't grow up in a city. You're not as attuned to magic and nature as you should be because you live in the city. You've lost your connection, if that is the right word, to the planet. What would you say if we went camping? Something like a back-to-nature thing."

-

Andy sat on the sand with his guitar on his lap. No songs came from his lips. It was difficult. The reality of everything had changed. Inside, he was angry. He wanted to put the blame on someone. It would have solved all his problems. That person he could blame was gone to some other galaxy to save the world.

The beach was devoid of people, giving Andy a desolate feeling. Where did he go from here? Live his day-to-day life without ever acknowledging magic or accept it? He finally knew who those weird fairies on TV were. Small consolation. He felt like things were getting worst and worst for his alien friends. Sky was a total ass.

"Mind if I join you?"

Speak of the devil and he doth appear.

Andy looked up to see Sky standing near him. The guitarist did not answer and the blond king sat cross-legged on the sand.

"Sky, you're a jackass. I don't understand why the hell you're here or why you got me involved. Why do you do any of this?" Andy said all of a sudden.

Andy expected a violent response. "I did not choose for you to get involved, Andy," Sky said softly. "If I had the choice, you would not be involved. The person you must blame is Bloom."

"You're blaming _Bloom_?"

"Well, if she had never revealed to you her exact identity, you would have never realized that she was one of the fairies on TV. Look, I'm a bad person. I don't sound like one, I _am_ one. Maybe five years ago I would not be saying this but this is the present. I'm not even going to pretend to have some pretense of guilt because it's a waste of time. What happened happened and we must keep moving forward. There is no point in getting angry. If you're still unhappy about this ordeal, we'll erase your memory when we have the time."

"And you're a king?" the guitarist criticized. "I have to wonder what Bloom sees in you."

"Do you think knowing what you do now is a bad thing? Magic is a natural part of the universe. Andy, I am the king of a planet. I graduated from a topnotch program from a military school several realms away. I am constantly in the sights of some gunman or assassin because they want me dead for what's in here." Sky pointed to his forehead. "I consider myself lucky to even have someone Bloom at all. She should have left me when the whole I-have-a-fiancée-already debacle unraveled."

"You had a fiancée _already_?!" Andy asked incredulously. A simple 'what the fuck?' summed up his thoughts. "Dude, how old are you? Twenty-one?" What a two-timing jerk?!

"Don't be quick to judge me, Andy. You make the deadly assumption that I always have a choice in everything I do. I don't. I don't get to choose my own wife. I am lucky to even experience a romantic relationship with anyone. My realm and my family come first before me. It's also the reason why I seemed 'messed up'ed to you. I look like a bastard or someone who is better off dead than alive to you, don't I?

"Bloom and everyone else probably think that too but I know in my heart that what I'm doing is right even if no one sees what I see. It's been foretold on my planet that I am destined for great things but I don't want to be that person in the prophecy."

"You have prophecies?"

"I sound even more of a nutcase, don't I? I grew up faster than I had wanted to and personally, I think I have many regrets. I withhold the truth a lot because it's part of my job but I might as well be lying for all that everyone cares and it hurts to think that."

"And you're telling me this why?"

"Talking is therapeutic and you don't work for me. Ordinarily, I can't tell this to people like Brandon or Bloom because there are constraints on those relationships. Brandon gets paid to do what I tell him. Bloom is the princess of another realm."

"And you're not mad at me for calling you a jackass?"

"What do you want me to do? Snap your neck? I'm not going to care. There are worst names out there."

Andy let out a breath, unsatisfied. He was expecting Sky to be a ball of fury but all he did was sit calmly and talk.

"So what's it like out there?" Andy asked.

"'Out there?' What do you mean?"

"Well, the magical dimension and stuff."

"Don't use the word 'dimension.' A dimension is not a place, it's a measurement like the second and third dimension—sorry, I get bugged when people do that. There are idiots who tack on 'dimension' just to make the place sound cooler. Anyways, it's not necessarily as magical as you would think it would be, at least in Magix it isn't."

"Magix is an artificial planet. It's not naturally formed in space but rather created by machine and magic. They use it as a centre for commerce, interplanetary education and politics. Its capital, extremely creative might I add, is Magix. It's one of the worst places to be right now because there is too much tension between the witches and fairies and NMBs."

"NMBs?"

"Non-magical being. They're not 'non-magical' per se. They just don't practice magic at the level that the girls do. Right now, they're back in Magix probably teaching. They were interns at Alfea, a school for fairies, before we came to Earth."

"And you?"

"Packing up to go home and run my world before the whole attack in Alfea happened."

Sky explained to him the Black Circle and how they had attacked Alfea in their search for the last fairy of Earth which was Roxy. Sky also explained the theory of the Black Death killing all the magical beings during the Middle Ages.

"You know, I'm finding all of this extremely hard to accept," Andy admitted.

"It's understandable. I find it hard to accept that a place like Earth exists."

Andy asked him to explain.

"Earth feels like a jump back through time to me. This place is so polluted and all of your people have lost their sense of natural self-awareness. You're so detached from nature that it's terrifying. Most of all, what scares me is that not even tap water here is directly drinkable. I can spoil the future for you by saying that a lot of societies ended up going out this way. This is going to end very badly and you humans don't make a one-eighty right now."

"'You humans?' Aren't you human, too?"

"I am and I am not. I'm human but not a human of Earth. I am an alien of Earth but a human of Eraklyon. The term 'human' refers to an individual or group of people who are capable of abstract thinking, logic, language and reflection no matter what one looks like. Take Nabu for example. He's a born merman with fins and gills and everything. We call him a merman but where he comes from, he's just a 'human' or another self-aware being. It's very subjective."

Both men were silent for a long while. They watched the sand fly away on the wind.

"Sky, when I first met you, I didn't even know who you were until you started working at the bar. I didn't even know that Bloom was engaged until Klaus said that you were engaged. I didn't peg you for the smart-type either. To be honest, I thought that you were really stupid and that Bloom must've been blind. I even thought that you were some horrible druglord after Bloom gave me that fairy story."

"That sounds about right when you reveal to people that you have magic."

"Are you trying to be funny?"

"No."

"So how did you meet Bloom anyways?"

"It started with Stella getting attacked by an ogre…really stupid when I think back on it."

-

**Alfea.**

Everyone rushed into the small cramped room. "Tecna!" Musa rushed over to the unconscious fairy and shook her shoulders. "Digit, are you sure about what you saw?"

Faragonda and DuFour filed in lastly. The Winx Club had been on their way to DuFour's office when Digit came screaming after them. The little pixie had told them what she had seen in the laptop. She had told them about how they had decided to send an email to Nina. By some weird twist of coincidence, an innocent conversation about viruses suddenly had itself downloading onto Tecna's laptop. Tecna's was a tecnokinetic but she could not travel telepathically without a digital mean.

DuFour grabbed the laptop, threatening to fall off the bed. She righted it on a table and placed a hand on it. "I sense that something alive is in here," the magic teacher said to the headmistress. "Tecna maybe?"

Faragonda nodded. "That means we're still have her but we have to get her body under observation. Get word to Red Fountain, Carlotta. We need to move her. They have better equipment than us for this. Whoever this Nina is, she has ambiguous intentions and I don't like them. I already have one of my staff leaving, I'm not having an intern dying."

* * *

**Latter Note:** Short. A lot of things are happening. As a warning, I think it's safe to say that this story, despite being labeled a Roxy story, focuses on more than one character (gee, like maybe all of them, you think? *sarcasm*).

Verboten is a way for me to explore the different venues about myself. I do this for because I think what I'm writing is very important. It's not important for you the reader but for me because I gain a sort of sense of knowing who I am. I'm seventeen (at the moment that this chapter is published) and I've been writing Verboten since May 2009. The amount of effort and concentration that I've put into this terrifies me because I feel like I'm possessed by two dozen demons. There is not a moment that I do not spend contemplating this story and never in my life have I been possessed of something like that.

I've recently reread some of my 'Andy and Bloom run' chapters and I'm amazed that I wrote those things, especially the way I wrote Andy. It's one of those moments when you think 'What the hell?' but instead of criticizing yourself for your flaws, I am shocked speechless by it.


	40. Chapter 40 Lake Crystal

**Verboten  
****Chapter 40**

Friday, April 2, 2010

**Disclaimer: **I do not own the Winx Club. Specifically, Lake Crystal and Darkstone or liquid moonlight. Those are all canon objects/places in the comics.

* * *

**Lake Crystal.**

Lake Crystal was a lake known for being plagued with magical animals from the surrounding forest and mountains. There was only one town, called Darkstone, near the lake which was built on a river that fed it. It was a small quaint town but like every small town in the middle of nowhere, there was their share of mythical paranoia that the inhabitants suffered which included never going out on a full moon for fear of never coming back.

The valley in which Lake Crystal lied was a protected area as sworn by dozens of historical, scientific and cultural charters that declared the area a heritage site for the lake's unusual properties. Seven centuries ago, Lake Crystal had been in dispute between two clans back when the region had been managed in those outdated archaic ways. The two warring families had risen to such high prominence that it garnered the attention of the Magix Council for fear of an outright massacre. Because of that, a convoy of specialists from Magix had been sent to establish peace and act as peacekeepers.

The origins of the two families, the Lycaonia and the Luperca were no doubt murky. No one knew for sure from where they came from as the planet Magix was an artificial celestial body. That meant that everyone was an immigrant to Magix. People guessed planets and galaxies based on old portraits but nothing was conclusive. It did not matter anyways as long as peace was made. In time, the two families disintegrated into the annals of history. Out of that peace, rose Darkstone.

Darkstone was a small town where everyone knew everyone else. Because of its small size, the people retained that mountain town picturesque feeling but they also retained their legends from back when the valley was divided.

For some strange reason though, a hydroelectric company called Livius Electric had suddenly decided to take an interest in Darkstone despite it being against the charter.

It was mid afternoon when a red bullet-like cruiser flew over the area. The cruiser came to a hover over a meadow just outside of Darkstone and landed gently on the tall grass. The hatch opened and four men in plain clothes stepped out of the transport.

The first man had short choppy brown hair, freckles and catlike green eyes. "This is Alpha to Redbird, do you copy?" he said into a hidden microphone in his collar. He was Edric Chase, a second-year specialist from Red Fountain. He was the impromptu leader of their motley group, a role that he took in stride. They had made it to their second year in Red Fountain, an accomplishment greater than graduating from the school in his mind.

"This is Redbird to Alpha, affirmative."

Edric remembered basic training during summer and how so many recruits had been rejected from the school before the school year had even started. General Training was an eight-week long camp where recruits, or potential students, trained to see if they were fit for Red Fountain for their first year. It happened during the summer and the training was beyond what a normal person could take. There were the usual subjects like parade drill and introductory courses to dragon taming and aviation but there were many physical and mental endurance exercises like solo survival camping and fight tournaments to see who was the fittest fighter. There were also competitive examinations of various subjects such as language, math, history and law.

There had been seven hundred recruits from every corner of galaxy and even other galaxies and only three hundred had made it pass general training camp. It had been such a relief to him that he had found his name on the register at the end of the camp that he almost thought he was hallucinating. By end of the first year, more than fifty students had been expelled and sometimes replaced. Edric's year had dwindled down to about two hundred and seventy students. It was in their second year that all sixty-eight four-man squads had received a fifth member from, as one of Edric's teammates said, "nowhere." It was also the year that they started unsupervised missions.

In his team's case, they had gotten Jared Lockwood, a swordsman of incredible skill. Something did not click in Edric's head when Cordatorta first introduce him. He understood that Jared also came from another faraway specialist school and had come to Red Fountain to complete his training but Jared's demeanor did not fit at all the student persona.

Edric shook off his doubts about his new teammate as his gaze fell upon him. "Good," he said to his communicator, "We'll keep you updated every hour, Redbird. Over and out."

A fifth man with chin-length wavy hair as white as snow and icy blue eyes stepped out onto the hatch. "Edric, I'm watching the ship," he said to the green-eyed man. He was Quinn, a fighter pilot and specialist. He wore white and blue flight suit with two chevrons over a triquetra on each shoulder and his name tape said 'Roth.' Edric knew Quinn back from basic training. He had found out that he white-haired man had already gotten his civil pilot's license and was well on his way to getting his fighter-category license. Quinn was always so calm and collected that it was disturbing. Edric wondered if Quinn had ever gotten mad in his life before.

Edric turned to everyone, taking a deep breathe to compose himself. He looked into everyone's face, reaffirming their trust in his leadership skills. "Right, Quinn's with the ship. Anything goes wrong, tell him on the radio. Dante, you're with me. The specialists from the Abbey are here undercover and are going to meet us at the lodge. Raido, Jared—"

"Going to the lake to find our informant who's been missing for a week," Raido said. Raido was a man with wise grey eyes and long messy black hair tied back in a ponytail. He sighed as if hearing these instructions for the millionth time. He was the medic of the team and paid attention to the smallest of detail. One of his failings was his inability to watch injustice without doing something about it. He was the classic fairy tale knight who went to anyone's aid.

Dante had short obsidian hair with brilliant red eyes that bespoke a hair trigger impish personality. He had a wide toothy grin. He was an impatient sort of person but he knew what was right. He was eager to get moving.

"We got it, Edric," Jared said. He had short cropped blue black hair and gold eyes. Edric termed the black-haired man as a very quiet person. He was good listener and followed instructions well.

"And we all meet at the Silver Spirit Lodge by eleven tonight. If there's no contact by midnight, the mission becomes a rescue operation."

"We're taking the bikes," Raido said.

"Right," Edric nodded. "Dante, let's go. The ladies of Saint Xanthe's are waiting for us."

Edric and Dante both shouldered light backpacks, looking like campers. Jared and Raido guided out two levabikes from the Redbird's side hatch and sped off silently in the opposite direction towards the forest.

-

Saint Xanthe's Abbey was the female equivalent of Red Fountain. There was no better way to phrase it than that. It was a school for topnotch disciplined woman with endeavours other than magic. It was the first militaristic women's only university on the planet Magix. The school's roots were deeply intertwined with the rise gender equality in Magix more than several millennia ago. The school had been built a few centuries after Alfea and Cloud Tower as a response to the fact that most women had seen as the weaker sex and were only good for magic, bearing the offspring and doing menial chores and nothing else while the men fought for greater things. The founder of the school, Saint Xanthe Delafée saw something else: a great potential.

Saint Xanthe had been an Alfea fairy who graduated from the school in a trance-like state, eyes constantly glowing like she was possessed by a god. People believed that she had been possessed by her affinity so entirely that Saint Xanthe's own mind did not exist at all.

At the time, Magix, then called Magycks, had been deep in conflict trying to establish one uniform government. Tired of conflict she gathered all the like-minded weary souls in the Valley of Magycks and crossed the treacherous mountains of what was now Shadowhaunt saying that the Great Dragon had not wanted this of them.

In their self-imposed exile, she had created a new society that was not affected by the conflict. However, the conflict followed them and in frustration, Saint Xanthe created the Abbey that acted as the defensive militia against the crude government of Magycks.

There were two sides to Shadowhaunt: the side that faced Magix and the side that faced Xanthe Planitia. On the Xanthe Planitia side, one knew where the mountains ended and the rolling grasslands started by the simply lack of rock. The mountain literally cut off into sudden grassland like there had been some invisible border. Saint Xanthe's Abbey was located just above this border, as the building itself had been carved out of the very face of the mountain. It was at first a monastery that welcomed travelers entering Xanthe Planitia after the harsh trek across Shadowhaunt. When the conflict came, the monastery had the strategic advantage of funneling their enemies through narrow roads and unleashing hell from above.

In the years that came, the Abbey set it self up as a formal school and a militia for Xanthe Planitia. Thousands of years to the present, Saint Xanthe's Abbey was a military school for women that often worked hand-in-hand with the men of Red Fountain.

Satine Sybarite was a staff sergeant who specialized in intelligence gathering. She was a beautiful woman that she could have been mistaken for being younger, which was a good thing. She was easy on the eyes with medium-length dark brown hair and a deep tan. She had the body of an athlete but still gave a sense of male-empowering femininity because of her short stature. She wore skinny jeans and a red blouse.

Honey Rider was a second year specialist from the world of Chirre'ya. She was thin and tall, but not supermodel tall. Messy blond hair framed her round face and blue eyes, like your typical blond. She wore a pink dress under a white sweater.

They sat together at a table at the lodge's restaurant waiting for their dates.

"Sybarite, what do you think happened to Fluffy?"

"He has a name, Honey, and I think that he's not oh-so-adorable when he's fluffy."

"You're calling him Fluffy right now."

"'Fluffy' as an adjective!" Sybarite sighed and covered her face with a hand. "When this is all over, you can call him Fluffy but not now. He has a codename assigned to him—use it."

Honey watched the doors to the lodge, having gave up on the conversation. "The boys are here!"

Sybarite stood up and opened her arms. "Dante, Raido!"

"Sybby!" Dante said equally happy.

For a moment, the staff sergeant's face froze dangerously. Dante ignored it completely and hugged her. "Private, what did I say about calling me 'Sybby?'"

"It's an assignment," he whispered.

"And only during it," she gritted.

"Let's drop your stuff upstairs." Honey gathered Edric's hand in hers affectionately, faking it. Edric jumped at the gesture despite knowing the falsity of the move and became red.

It had only been this year that the men had started working with the women specialists of Saint Xanthe's Abbey. It was a way to get the men accustomed to working with both sexes as it was not uncommon to see female specialists in certains parts of their field. It was also to show them that the girls of Alfea and Cloud Tower were not the only women and were not only useful for magic. Saint Xanthe's had a similar system to Red Fountain's in which there would be squads of four or five and it was a three year school. Although, it was not rare to see smaller teams of two or even one depending on the assignment.

The four moved upstairs to the ladies' room. The room was quaint and warm, giving a relaxing aura. There were two beds with quilted covers and wooden furniture. The three specialists pulled some chairs around a round table.

"And I'm not a private anymore!" Dante said as soon as the door was closed. "I'm a specialist, a rank above a private!"

"Yeah, sure, private. Straight to business, our fink Wolf has been missing for a week and the full moon is coming in two days, you know that and you know what happens if Wolf gets a single ray of concentrated moonlight on him. We're working against the clock and I don't want an inadvertent massacre on my hands."

Edric raised a hand for the sergeant to pause. "Let me clarify this because I didn't believe the report: Wolf is a…?"

"Werewolf, and not of the cognizant kind either. He has difficulty differentiating humans who want to help him. When he transforms, he gains a lot of mass and because of that, it makes him extremely hungry. Obviously, he tries to take a bite out of anyone near him. He can talk when he's changed but it's the first hour that he's the most dangerous because of the hunger. As time goes on, he adapts to his body and then becomes normal."

"Except with a new coat of fur?" Dante added.

Edric ignored his teammate. "But who's to say that he did not just leave to avoid the entire mess? Have you thought of that." the brunet suggested.

Sybarite shook her head. "Not him, Edric. He was a recruit in my platoon during basic training. He's not that kind of a guy. He was an exemplary recruit all summer."

"He was a specialist?" Dante asked. "Was there an incident that made him leave?"

"He left halfway through the second year on his own choice." 'On his own choice' was synonymous for 'personal reasons' and the others figured out why. "That was about two and a half years ago, just before Valtor came. He's not one to give up. He knows what's right and last I checked, that training is still with him when he showed us the bungalow."

The mysterious Livius Electric had set up shop in a hastily made bungalow just down the river.

"Let me guess: the bungalow is not supposed to exist and it's an illegal construction?"

"Right. We usually talk to Wolf every Monday, Wednesday and Friday when he comes in into town for supplies but he didn't come in for Monday or Wednesday and we should have met him at the plaza around two but he wasn't there either. His communicator is somewhere in the middle of the forest, according to GPS, and it's been there the _entire_ week."

"And you think he's missing?"

"Maybe dead at worst. There is nothing in this forest that would want to kill him. The bungalow is guarded and heavily reinforced for such a small building."

"But aren't we jumping to conclusions? It's a hydroelectric company that wants to build a plant for the town. What's the problem?"

Sybarite brought a map that showed the entirety of valley. Lake Crystal dominated the middle of the map and there were several rivers pouring into it. She pointed to a river south of the lake where Darkstone was marked. "What they're saying but doesn't fit, even if it were legal, Dante. Why not build the plant on the river near the town? They want to build it more downriver." The sergeant pointed to where the river met the lake just north of the town. "From what Wolf told us, where they're planning to build is too impractical for anyone. It's practically on the lake. Why not have the dam closer to the town?"

"And there is only one solution to that, isn't there?" Edric said. "Lake Crystal is a magnet for all sorts of trouble from the commercial end."

"They want to distill Lake Crystal's liquid moonlight on the full moon and make a pretty buck out of it."

"Liquid moonlight?" Dante asked. "I'm sorry, not totally into this magic stuff."

"On the full moon, the lake is a perfect mirror and the water can be distilled to give you liquid moonlight. It's essentially magic in a liquid form and it's a very powerful ingredient used for magic potions, especially love potions. Every semester, Red Fountain escorts a team of witches or fairies to refill the school's supply," Sybarite explained. "At the same time, the liquid moonlight is very dangerous—it's poisonous if it's consumed raw. So this poses a health hazard for the public and its magical capabilities are way too dangerous for the regular witch.

"Commercial exportation of anything from the lake is also illegal. Liquid moonlight must be harvested by hand. This place is a heritage site. If they build a dam, there will environmental repercussions. Distilling moonlight is the only logical explanation. They have strange trucks coming into town at night and I don't think they're carrying fluoride for the water. Too many things are not fitting."

Dante jolted out of his seat as Quinn's voice filter into the ear communicator. Edric listened.

"Redbird to Alpha team, Bravo team just reported in. They're at Wolf's house but it's empty and it's been ransacked. They're trapped inside because there's a pack of wolves circling the house. They can't get to their bikes to run. Should I go to them?" Quinn said.

"No, that's like using a bulldozer to kill an ant! Don't go. We'll come back to you Redbird and go to the house ourselves."

Sybarite took a moment to think after being explained the situation. "I suppose it's time for a picnic and a hike up the mountain. Shall we?"

* * *

**Latter Note:** I looked up Darkstone in the comics because I have the French version of the issue and they call the town Pierrenoir, which means Blackstone. What the hell?

Lake Crystal is a place in the Winx Club comics (issue 13 Moonlight). The nearest town is Darkstone and they have a paranoia about the full moon for obvious reasons. In Moonlight, the Winx Club and specialist go to Lake Crystal to collect liquid moonlight on the full moon. On their way to the lake, they encounter a woodsman that Flora becomes friends with when he shelters them in his house during a storm, I think. Later on, the group goes to collect liquid moonlight but is then attacked by wolves. Flora runs from the wolves into the woodman's house who is hiding in the dark. Flora pulls out the bottle of moonlight to make some light which then sets off the woodsman's transformation into a werewolf and proceeds to try to devour Flora. Flora traps him in the house and returns to Alfea, apparently looking for a cure for the condition. (They never got back to it. And you can tell that I'm withholding names.)

_Très tragique_ (bad French) and extremely good fodder for the Flora/Helia fire.

Mwuhahahahaha!

Now, I have a blog that I'm occasionally going to use for anything Verboten related, mainly my thoughts. Drop me a message at http:// kikurukina. blogspot. com.


	41. Chapter 41 Jared and his Specialists

**Verboten  
Chapter 41**

Friday, April 9, 2010

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Winx Club.

* * *

"If these wolves are the wolves that I think they are, they're not like your ordinary ones. They're smart, they have magic and they know it," Sybarite had warned the specialists.

Sybarite, Honey, Edric and Dante rode on their silent levabikes through the forest, their hearts racing. Quinn had reported from the Redbird that Jared and Raido were trapped inside their snitch Wolf's house. A pack of wolves were circling the house for some mysterious reason. Night was falling on them and the waxing gibbous moon was a terrifying reminder of how limited their timing was. They needed to find Wolf fast before the full moon.

They came to a stop at the top of the hill that overlooked Wolf's cottage. They had turned off the headlights on their bikes. The lights, most likely candles, in the house were lit and the light filtered through the iron-barred windows to outlining the wolves that were jumping at the windows. The problem was that the wolves were easily as tall as the windows when they stood on their hind legs. They pawed at the door and the windows, barking madly.

"Crap, they're bigger than I thought," Sybarite said. "I knew Wolf was friends with them but…"

"Let me just shoot them with a tranq," Dante suggested.

"No, don't—"

There was a cacophony of growling and barking from behind them that shook Edric's bones. They turned and saw three pairs of luminous eyes. One dark wolf stepped forward and started barking loudly to warn the rest of his park. The wolf was tall as their levabikes and its jaw could have easily swallowed his head. The irritating wolf had long lithe legs and short hair with bright gold eyes.

"Redbird to Alpha team, Wolf's communicator is on the move at 40 km/h approaching you!"

Suddenly, another smaller wolf came dashing from the side and biting the barking wolf's ruff. The smaller dainty wolf growled angrily. The trio of wolves disappeared into the forest with tails between their legs.

Edric observed the behavior in confusion. The dainty wolf disappeared into the darkness for a moment and returned with something in its mouth. It approached Edric wearily and jumped up to place its paws on the front of the specialist's bike.

"Whoa, whoa, good doggy!" The bike shifted under the wolf's weight and he saw that something was in the dog's mouth. The wild dog gave him an earnest look. Unfortunately, all Edric could do was focus on the long shiny canine teeth. The huge jaws opened and he jumped back in his seat. Something small fell into his lap and the wolf jumped off. Edric examined the small black object: it was a cell phone.

"That's the phone we gave Wolf to call us," Honey said.

"The wolf is telling us to follow it?" Dante said incredulously. Indeed, the dainty dark wolf was looking back at them expectantly.

"Then we follow it," Edric said. "This wolf has to be smarter than we think." He looked around to see the wolves that had been circling the house were surrounding them, urging them to follow.

Edric radioed to Jared and Raido who were exiting the house. "Follow the wolves, Bravo team."

It was twenty minutes later after speeding after the as fast as wind wolves that the six them found themselves staring at the dim outline of the illegally constructed bungalow just beside the river that spilled into Lake Crystal. They were hidden in a part of the forest that was riding the ridge of a crag.

The bungalow was simply that. It was one-level building with several sheds outside of it and a large stack of crates. The bungalow was oblong facing the lake, had a slanted roof and the walls were made of corrugated metal sheets. There was a glass roof door that was open with yellow light spilling out of it. It looks like there had been some attempts to clear the land with tractors parked not far off and a large pit to lay the foundations of some building.

Everyone disembarked from their bikes and the wolves howled to the sky in unison.

"Shut them up or else it'll give us away!" Dante said.

"Leave it, Dante. They're only animals," Jared countered. "They won't think anything of it."

The leading wolf stilled for a moment, listening with its twitching ears.

"These wolves…" Raido started, "Are they Wolf's…'pack?'"

"They must be," Honey rationalized. "They're smart enough to keep Wolf's communicator and bring it to us, so that must mean something."

"Then this is a rescue mission, if Wolf is down there," Sybarite pointed to the building.

"There are only two people outside," Jared said, putting down a pair of binoculars. "Guards?"

"Most likely," Edric said.

"It's a rescue mission then. First, get to the roof and see what's with the light. Then we neutralize all threats and arrest them."

Suddenly, there were several cracks of lightning from the bungalow, the light flickering white and yellow. One wolf ran down towards it and the rest of the wolves sped down the precipice after their leader.

The specialists covered the short distance to the building and came to a tall chain-link fence with barbed wire at the top.

"Honey, EMP grenade, one minute. Guys, the roof by the crates. Watch for cameras."

"Yes, ma'am." Honey unclipped a small sphere from her belt and set the timer for one minute. She gave it a good toss over the fence into one of the foundation pits. An EMP grenade was an electromagnetic pulse grenade that emitted a radius of energy that nullified all technology in an area for a certain amount of time. "One minute now!"

They easily jumped higher than the fence, being far stronger than normal people. They kept to the shadows and were silent as snow falling. They crossed the short distance and hopped onto a stack crates that piled beside the bungalow. The entire event passed like a blur to Edric as he had done it so many times before.

A year ago, his heartbeat would have been deafening in his ears but practice and control had eliminated that problem. The wolves had followed them through the compound like shadows, evidently using some type of magic to walk through the fence.

They stood on a roof balcony and the glass roof door was open to let in the cool breeze. They easily dealt with any cameras which were by the way, almost nonexistent because who wanted to watch their own roof where nothing happened? They huddled all around the roof door which led down a set of stairs. Outside below them, they could hear a couple of guys talk and smoke about the boringness of nightshift and a resilient prisoner that they had captured.

There was another crackle of thunder from inside the structure and—

A piercing inhuman "_Roaaaarrrrr!_" that resounded throughout the forest.

It shook Edric's bones and he felt his heart pickup. He could not imagine what kind of animal made that sound and he was not sure if he wanted to. Passing through the entire compound had been easy but this? For a moment, he cursed himself as he wondered if lycanism was viral or genetic.

The same dainty wolf pawed at the edge of the door, unsure. There was another crackle of lightning and another roar.

"How many more are there of you?!" someone, a man, screamed. A man was thrown onto the floor within the door's range. The man was beat and his clothes were stained with blood. He trembled as he tried to prop himself on his knees and hands to get up. He had blue flared hair. He wore a flannel shirt, blue jeans and boots.

"I told you, no one. I was just wonderin' what was going on here with all the building," Wolf said haltingly, acting stupid.

"Fucking liar," a man stood over Wolf and kicked him in the stomach. "You're going to give at some point. You're lucky the electrolaser ran out of juice and all the spare batteries are dead."

They watched for a minute longer. Edric signaled to Sybarite using a well-memorized military sign language. They were too close to risk speaking aloud.

"_We must intervene,_" he signaled. "_I saw only two people inside. Four in total here._"

"_Wait a minute._"

Everyone ducked down as the crack of rifle rang through the air below. Then there was the sound of dogs whimpering.

"Stupid mutts!" someone roared angrily and began open firing on the wolves on the ground level. "How the fuck do they get pass the electric fence?! What the fuck?! All my shots are going through them?!"

"They're shadows, don't—" a second man's voice turned to screaming as several wolves tried to maul the two guards.

"Get moving!" Edric shouted.

Honey stood up and threw another small sphere at the man who had kicked Wolf. "Fire in the hole! Wolf, hold your breath!" She put on a face mask and went down the stairs, closing the glass door behind her. The dainty wolf pawed at the glass angrily.

The little bomb hit the ground and there was an explosion of yellow brown sleeping gas in the bungalow. One whiff of the sleeping gas could usually knocked out a man within twenty seconds. _One._ While that was happening, Raido and Jared had jumped off the roof to the front where the two guards were. _Five._ The dark wolves scattered from the two moaning men. Raido quickly knocked out both men with a simple touch behind their neck. _Twelve._

Inside, Honey quickly knocked the man off his legs and cuffed him. _Fourteen._ She was counting the seconds. She quickly forced a mask on Wolf. She was relieved when she felt him gasp against the mask. _Eighteen._ She found the other man in the bungalow quickly, having already memorized where he was. Despite being blind from the yellow gas, she snuck up behind the man. She saw his silhouette in the gas and he crumpled into a heap of limbs. _Twenty._

Edric radioed for Quinn to come with the ship. Minutes later, everyone arranged the bodies in the Redbird's holding cell. Honey and Jared carried Wolf into the ship's sickbed.

"Quinn, leave for Red Fountain now," Edric ordered. "Wolf needs advance medical attention now. We'll clean up the rest here. I wish missions were this simple."

"It would be nice if we could plan them a little more," Sybarite criticized. "But no, we just go with the flow, knowing that we're more than your average human and jump in without any plan."

"We got it already, Sybby!"

-

Jared and Honey rushed out the back of the standard Red Fountain transport, Quinn following them. They guided several gurneys towards the medical wing, yelling for students and staff alike to get out of the way despite the hour.

Jared was twenty-one, lithe, tall with short black blue hair and angled golden hawk-like eyes.

Upon graduation from Red Fountain, Jared had been promoted to the rank of sergeant and was required to fulfill seven long years of obligatory service to Magix since he was a resident of the realm and had gotten into Red Fountain with by military scholarship. That was the case for most graduating students. It was very rare that one paid his way into the school because of the insane amount of insurance needed for all the various and dangerous aspects of study that was in the school's curriculum. Red Fountain was one of the best military schools for several galaxies with only the cream of the crop making it into this school. It served as both an intergalactic neutral body and a defense for the city of Magix considering the city's recent history.

Jared had decided to fulfill his service by choosing a post at Red Fountain as a drill instructor and an undercover mission supervisor. The missions in Red Fountain were usually commissioned missions by various third parties or political bodies that could afford to pay the high fees. Despite being acknowledged as great school, it was at its foundation a mercenary factory. Not all the students who graduated from were enlisted in their respective militaries.

It had only been a year and half since he had graduated and his service had started. Seven years seemed like such a long time to him when he first read his contract but in retrospect, if the peace stayed and no major bodies of evil sprung up, those seven years would pass by him like a flash. Plus, he did not think anyone would dare to since the revival of Sparks.

His role as an undercover mission supervisor was simple enough. He worked as a role model for the specialists and often delegated the leadership tasks to them since it was them who were working towards graduation and not him. His role was to be mainly an observer and an extra hand at his own discretion. Only in emergencies would he take on the mantle of responsibility. Basically, he was faking being a specialist in training despite having already graduated. It was supposed to give the boys a sense of being independent without being independent.

Right now, their snitch and ex-specialist Wolf needed immediate medical attention. Wolf's body was bruised and cut in so many places. There some burn wounds as if he had been subjected to an electrolaser gun.

A team of nightshift nurses relieved Honey and Jared and took Wolf's gurney. They were already inside the medical wing's main corridor. The duo fell down onto a bench to the side, tired. It was extremely late or extremely early. They could see the beginning of the sun rise over the horizon in the window across them.

"Jared, did that wolf follow us in the Redbird?" Honey leaned her head on Jared's shoulder and pointed at the same dainty wolf from Lake Crystal that was now hunched over on the floor. His heart jumped at the sight. It had dark reddish fur and looked down the hallway expectantly. It was big as a levabike alright.

Jared whistled to it, offering a friendly hand to get the wolf out of the way.

"I think it's a 'she,'" Jared yawned. "Come here, girl."

The huge wolf came to him giving him an intelligent stare before lying at their feet. Jared closed his eyes, ready to sleep on the bench.

"Jared?"

"Yeah?" His brows knitted themselves together in irritation. He wanted to sleep! It was as if once he entered Red Fountain, it was a signal for his body to sleep.

"Jared, is that you?"

He opened his eyes. Who would be asking him that question at this hour? Quinn was supposed to be wrapping up the mission. It was like freaking five or something. "Musa?"

-

Musa waved at Jared nervously. He smiled and waved back. She looked warily at the giant wolf at his feet. There was a blond uniformed woman who had apparently decided that he made a perfectly good pillow on his shoulder.

"Hey, how's it going?"

"I'm sorry. I'm too tired to talk."

"Oh, sorry. I'll leave you then," the music fairy awkwardly. "Maybe you should find a real bed?" she suggested.

"Right…what time is it?"

"Almost six."

"Looks like I won't be getting sleep 'til…" Jared stood straight up as Cordatorta approached him with an angry face. They began to whisper quickly. "Wait…how is that possible? Are you sure?" Jared's face was suddenly alit with energy. "Yessir, I'll start working on it. As soon as my squad is in, send them to me."

Musa turned to return to Tecna's room but stopped when she saw Cordatorta hand Jared Tecna's computer. Cordatorta marched off in a hurry and Jared looked at the device in his hand, flustered. He shook the blond woman's shoulder and she woke up as well.

"Specialist Rider, get your ass in gear. We have another assignment. Together."

The blond woman mumbled a curse.

"Musa!" Bloom came stiding down the hall. "Where were you? The people who are going to work on Tecna's laptop just arrived from their mission early and they're going to work on it now—"

Musa signaled for her to be silent. The music fairy guided the redhead down a corner.

"Was that Jared?" Bloom asked. "Didn't he graduate already?"

"He was supposed to," Musa said just as confused. "I don't get it, Cordatorta gave him Tecna's laptop. Does he mean them?"

"I guess so."

* * *

**Latter Note:** It's_ that_ Jared.

Back to your regular scheduled programming: chasing the Trix across the universe and learning about magic on Earth with Roxy.

I also have a drawing test and portfolio evaluation to go to tomorrow for 3D Animation at the cegep. I hope I get in. *crosses fingers*


	42. Chapter 42

**Verboten  
****Chapter 42**

Sunday, April 10, 2010; reposted Thursday, April 22, 2010

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Winx Club.

* * *

**Central Apennine Mountains.**

"So…where are we?" Roxy said, shouldering a heavy backpack.

"Somewhere in Italy," Asta said, shouldering an equally large backpack. It was early morning and the sun had only begun to rise.

"So, magic lessons start in a forest?" Roxy said dubiously. She had her doubts that Asta would even answer what province they were in let alone how far Gardenia was. She was disconcerted by the fact that she did not know where she was in general. Roxy had woken up at four in the morning to a pushy Asta who was urging her to jump into a one-hour ride on a helicopter.

"Mmm-hmm. Don't worry. It's only for the weekend. You'll be home by Sunday night."

Behind them, the helicopter had landed and its rotating blades were coming to a halt. They were in the middle a small clearing that took no less than precise navigation for the pilot to land in the limited area. There was forest on all sides of them. Both girls wore jogging pants, sneakers and a jacket.

"What are we looking for?"

"You'll see. Which reminds me," Asta turned back to Roxy, "Give me your wristwatch."

Roxy slipped her watch off and gave it to the witch. Asta looked at the watch appreciatively before throwing it into the air. Roxy felt a shiver lick her spine with magic as the watch disintegrated into nothing.

"What the hell was that for?!" Roxy shouted.

"The sun, the stars and the moon are good indicators of time," Asta pointed to the sky that was slowly becoming orange-yellow. "If our ancestors could live like this for hundreds of years before the advent of a good reliable clock, we can live like this too. You'll get it back but if bother to ask me about time, I won't answer."

The Earth fairy looked at the witch incredulously. "You could have told me that you were going to do that still! Why can't I have a watch?"

"Numbering time is artificial. One o'clock, two o'clock, those concepts don't exist for like birds and dogs. There is night, day, spring, summer, winter, you get the point. Numbers are not good ways of understanding the magical reality of the world because they separate you from the world. Time is not cut in centuries and eras, we did that. Time is one long unending line. We try to find order in a world full of chaos by assigning a date to things but magic is all about chaos. You grew up sheltered from the world around you and it has dulled your instincts as an animal."

"You're going to turn me into an animal?!" Roxy partially understood Asta's concept of quantifying time but what the hell was she going on about instincts? Asta was not being necessarily mean about it but she was being blunt and probably hoping that Roxy was keeping up with everything that was being thrown at her—at least, that was what it felt like to Roxy.

"No, you're an animal already—_Homo sapiens_ as you call yourself on Earth, right?" Asta said in a clinical tone that Roxy did not like. "In evolution, we evolved so that we could specifically survive the environment we had grown up in. For you Earthlings, you are a versatile race that can naturally live almost anywhere on this planet. You adapted to an environment and you are aware of your place in the ecosystem. This is the same thing for magic. The universe is like a closed system in a science experiment. (1) Whatever magic you throw into the system will always have an effect and that effect will always come back you to reach a state of equilibrium."

"Like karma?"

"Yes, like karma. In the study of magic, this is the law of return."

-

It felt like a good half-hour of intense hiking before Roxy heard the rush and gurgling of water. The trees were hard packed around them, requiring her to brush branches out of her way. As they had talked, Asta had pelted her with all sorts of scientific and philosophical questions that made Roxy wonder if she had returned to high school. Still, it had been light. The witch had explained to her that the universe was built on order and chaos which created a cyclical harmony.

Asta had also reminded her that 'God' as in the Great Dragon was a major player in the cosmos, most recently through Bloom and the people around her. Sky had been prophesied to be the catalyst of reviving Sparks and Stella had found Bloom while the Trix were chasing her for the rumoured spark of the Dragonfire in her scepter. Roxy was tempted to tell the witch about her strange dreams about accepting her change but she wondered if it would be of any help at all.

She wondered if something was at work for her. Until recently, Roxy's dreams had been normal but suddenly the spectre Nebula appeared in her dreams, the weird woman with a veil who defended her Nebula and then the Lioness who had apparently given her a kitten. Was any of it connected? She felt like she had all the pieces but no idea what the picture was supposed to be.

By the end of the hike, Roxy's hands were raw from pushing branches out of the way and Asta had found a suitable place to set up camp just uphill to a stream.

"Why this place?"

"Because it's fairly level, in case it rains. The water will just go downhill instead of making a puddle and inundating our site. Right now, I'm just going to teach you camping basics before we get to magic. Now, clear the ground and pull out all the rocks you can from the ground. Asta used the side of her foot to push away dead leaves and vegetation to reveal wet earth beneath.

"Why the rocks?" Roxy dropped her heavy bag on top of a boulder.

"You want to use a rock for a pillow?"

"Right…I'm still pissed about the watch."

"Was it that important? I was going to give it back to you anyways."

As they worked, Asta spoke giving pointers about choosing a site: "Always try to camp near running water. Try not to set up camp in area with too many trees overhead because if it rains, the branches just gather the water and it starts raining buckets on you and that can destroy your shelter."

They cleared away the area of forest debris. Their camp site was at the top of a small hill and when Roxy looked down one side, she could see the gurgling stream of water.

It was full sun out now. Roxy sat on a rock that she deemed worthy as a seat. Her stomached rumbled remembering that she had not eaten breakfast.

"I heard that," Asta said from across the small camping area. She was rummaging through her bag for something. She had pulled out some things before giving up and looking to the sky for an answer. "We must have gotten the hatchet in the chopper. Crap!" she mumbled. "You stomach is awfully loud."

"I'm starving! I can't help it," Roxy said. She wished she had hand cream for her dry hands.

An ax went flying past Roxy's face and digging itself into the bark of a tree with a _thunk_. Roxy screamed in shock.

"Don't _ever_ say that you're '_starving,_'" Roxy heard someone say with searing disdain. "I hate people who say that without meaning it." Riven stepped out of the brush

"For the love of God, are all of you this freakin' insane?!"

There was the crackling of wood and Roxy turned to see sapling trees be pushed out of the way.

"You forgot some things in the chopper, Stryker." Riven stepped over a log and pushed a branch away as he threw a shovel to Asta's half-turned back. She caught it with one hand. (Wait a minute, people in the real world can't catch things behind their back.)

"What the hell was that for?!" Roxy screamed at the redhead specialist.

"Starving is not a word that you should take lightly ever." Riven scowled and it would have intimidated Roxy down to her bones had she not been equally angry with the circumstances. She guessed that he had experienced a lot of things before coming to Earth, but of what, she was not sure. She did not know him well enough. "Starvation is when you die from the lack of food. Last time I checked, you're not dying so used the appropriate wording," he said darkly, "You are hungry."

"Oh, screw you! I'll say whatever the hell I want! What the hell is your deal?!" Roxy said angrily.

Riven shrugged, having dropped the subject quickly. He had said what he needed. It was not as if he was going to change her.

"I can so see why Musa likes you, Riven, ever so sensitive and understanding." Helia followed up after Riven, carrying another shovel. Both men wore regular clothing, as if they were ready to go work at the bar. Since autumn was starting to come in, they both wore long jeans and a sweater. Helia, whose hair was tied back in an efficient ponytail, was also holding a shovel and a couple of blue jerrycans and he let them lean against a tree.

"Ignore him. He's being crabby because Musa isn't here."

"What are you doing here?" Roxy turned away from the moody redhead to the longhaired artist.

"We were your pilots on the helicopter. We had helmets on so you can't really tell that it was us in the front. By the way, good morning!"

"How are you this happy this early in the morning?"

"Simple: coffee. I like mine with a hint of mint. Although, I'm still amazed that mint even exists on this planet…"

Roxy tried to ignore him. It was like torture to her stomach.

"By the way, we brought breakfast too," Helia continued. "Yeah, we decided we're just gonna eat breakfast with you instead of going back to Gardenia. It's been awhile since we ate ration packs and we're doing this for old time's sake."

Roxy's stomach sang. At this point, she did not care what it was as long as it was edible (Whatever a ration pack was anyways…). She had been working nonstop for what seemed like two hours. Her hands were dry and she was annoyed by the fact that she had not bothered to bring an elastic for her hair.

"You don't have a fire pit going," Riven noted.

"Or have even started collecting wood," Helia said craning his head for any evident stockpile of wood.

"Well, I guess breakfast is gonna have to be reconstituted with cold water."

"Or we could pitch in and help them make a quick fire now. It's not as if we're going to do anything 'til noon," Helia suggest. "I'm not waiting another hour just to get back to Gardenia for breakfast. I woke up at three in the morning just to give you a lift and—"

"Been there, done that, Helia," Riven interrupted, not wanting to hear a rant. "We're eating breakfast here."

In less than two minutes, Riven and Asta were digging a fire pit with the recently brought shovels and Helia and Roxy were out around the forest collecting wood. The fairy tried to ignore her stomach but the prospect of food was becoming overwhelming. Since she had found out that she was a fairy, she had been doing a lot of things that she had never expected and this was one of them. The entire situation was totally absurd by any normal standard. Helia and Riven were these macho paracommandos that acted like normal people, Asta was somewhat this anti-mainstream person…well, she could not label everyone else properly yet until she got to know them more but the concept was there.

Roxy had a pile of dead branches in her arms and she turned to return to the camp site, unable to pick up more branches.

"Helia, what are you doing?" Roxy reprimanded. The longhaired man stood still in front of a dead tree that was black from being struck by lightning and was partially split in half. He tossed the hatchet in his hand dangerously like a juggler would, contemplating the tree. The tree was about the thickness of her leg.

"Just keep going, Roxy," he advised.

"Uh, okay." Roxy continued dubious but hungry.

She dropped her pile of wood to the side of the camp beside where the pit had been dug when all of a sudden, there was the sound of something tight tensioning and finally snapping in release. The sound of a tree hitting the forest floor reverberated throughout the forest.

"Oh, for the love of…" Riven swore, squinting his eyes in scrutiny in the direction of the sound.

"I've learned over the years that as long as you don't question his methods, everything will always turn out right," Asta suggested, dunking her shovel into the ground.

"I've been doing that for the last three years."

"And it's worked, right?"

"Yeah…I still don't like it."

"Asta," Roxy cut in, "He just chopped an entire tree down." She had every reason to be concerned. If what she was thinking was right, Helia had tried to chop down an entire tree seeing at the way he had been looking at it.

"It was probably dead, right?"

"Yeah."

"Then there's no problem. Come with me to the river to collect some water." Asta heaved herself out of the pit to leave Riven to dig out the last few feet. They picked up the jerrycans and filled them with water from the stream. A few minutes later, they found Riven clanging his shovel against something solid in the earth.

"A rock?" Roxy asked.

"Two of them cornered together. You need to take it out." Riven climbed out of the pit, his jeans a dirty.

Asta and Roxy looked in.

"Yeah, that's a problem," the witch concluded.

"What do we do?"

"We can cheat and use magic. Let's see what you can do, Roxy."

The fairy's eyes widened in embarrassment.

"Well, this trip is all about you, right? Might as well see how well your magic is now." Asta sat on a large flat stone and motioned for Roxy to join her. "How would you solve this problem using magic?"

Riven walked out of the site, apparently collecting wood and bark.

Roxy drew a blank at the rocks in the pit. Her stomach was rumbling like a beast in her ears and she was faced with a simple task of moving rocks with magic. Was there a spell for this kind of situation?

"Here, use this." Asta tossed her Flora's old magic book.

Roxy caught it with trembling hands.

"I'm not looking for perfection. If you can just even think of a way to move the rocks, it would be fine. You don't even need to do it yourself if you're not confident."

Roxy looked at the worn book and then at the pit. The hole was a foot and a half deep and the two rocks were the size of her backpack. Her concentration had left her a long time ago. She took a deep breath and sat on the ground, leafing through the book for the magical answer, words blurring in her sight.

She had to move rocks. First, what the hell? Two, how?

"What if we clear the top of dirt and then lifted them out?"

"Lift them how?"

"Just float them out or something. Like use the word 'moven' or whatever—" Roxy felt something tingle in her spine and her shoulders.

"I heard the fluttering of wings," Asta said.

Roxy whipped her head to the dark-haired girl. "What?"

"Fairy magic sounds like tinkling bells to me."

"Magic has a sound?"

"It's not a sound per se. Some people feel as waves and some hear it as a sound, that's all. Fairy magic sounds like a tinkling of bells. So would you like to try and lift them out on your own?"

"Is that it?"

Asta gave her a look looking for clarification.

"I mean, was that all you wanted from me? What about those thirteen lessons?"

"You still have to learn those but the point of me asking you to do this yourself is to see how you approached a problem."

Roxy nodded, understanding the sudden evaluation. She turned back to the stones in the pit and took a shovel to loosen the earth. After a few moments, she pointed to the stones in her most commanding voice. "_Moven._"

The ground below it shook as the two stones shot straight up into the air in front of her. Surprised, she let go of the stones and they fell back down into the pit with a heavy _thud_.

"Try that again but direct them out to the side."

Roxy did that and let the rocks settle near Asta's stone seat. One of them suddenly started rolling down the hill to the creek.

"And now we can start a fire to purify the water." Asta pulled out several pots and some clothes.

Roxy's stomach groaned. Of course, they could not use water from the creek without cleansing it of bacteria and debris. Twenty minutes later, they were all seated around a small fire eating reconstituted food. They ate in silence, the crackling of burning wood and birds singing breaking the monotony.

Ration packs were boxes of prepackaged meals, usually two, for soldiers out in the field and they usually had enough food in them for twenty-four hours. Like on Earth, rations packs differed by country and were tailored to fit the nation's cultural tastes. The ones that Asta had brought were no different…Roxy really had no idea what she was eating and wondered if she really wanted to know. She stared at the opened can of food in her hand. It was like a wet salad that was as pink as her hair with smoked salmon-like bits of meat and some type of green spice. The taste was tart and strong but sort of sweet. One could not imagine how relieved she was when she finally started eating.

"I don't think you're quite ready to know what's inside this," Asta answered the unspoken question. Her eyes had sharply turned grey for a moment before becoming their normal black brown.

"Well, what is it?"

"I'm warning you, you're not going to like it. Don't you dare say it to her!" Asta said to the two specialists. "_You've been desensitized at Red Fountain for this, you're different from her._"

"_This…this is extremely…_" Helia said in a non-Earth language, placing his chin on his hand. "_I'm curious to see what her reaction is._" To Roxy, it had sounded like a bunch of melodious gibberish.

"_Don't,_" Riven said, effectively leaving Roxy out. "_Thank the gods that she can't read the box. I did not stay here for a puke fest._"

"_Ugh, you're impossible!_" Asta said.

"Uh, hello?! Speak Italian here!" the pink-haired girl shouted. "What were you speaking anyways?"

"Standard Zenite, the language of business for Magix. It comes from Tecna's planet because they built the bureaucracy," Helia said.

"But when you learn magic, you use Dominoan or Neicheusian. Dominoan is the language from Bloom's planet and Neicheusian is ours." Asta pointed to herself and Helia.

"Do I have to learn one of them?"

"The book, Flora's book, is written with Neicheusian spells. For some odd reason, half of Earth's languages are very similar to ours. One of your languages, Greek, sounds alarmingly like one of our languages. Personally, I find this intriguing but we don't have time to start caring. What's important is that you can learn easier because of the similarity."

"But how can I read this book though?"

"It's spelled to be written in a language that you would understand it."

"But how would they know…?"

"Don't think deeply about it. It's an abstract concept of magic."

Roxy spooned in another bite of the salad and looked at the spoon. "What's in here?"

"Well, you're going to learn anyways…" Riven said.

"Don't!" Asta said.

"Helia?" Roxy turned to him for answers.

"Um, well," Helia said. "For argument's sake, I'm agreeing with Riven. She will learn eventually, Asta. We might as well get it out now. Let me try to say this in a way that is not meant to be mean or cruel. I'm not doing this to gross you out or whatever. You have to understand in the universe, we're very open about things. You Earthlings can accept skin-colour racism and difference of religion but, I don't want to sound like the vainglorious alien invader who thinks your kind scum, because I don't, but what your people have achieved an equilibrium that is very fragile. If you ever come to Magix, you will without a doubt suffer from extreme culture shock. Magic is hard enough but the political dynamics of everything is much more…I have no word for it, I'm sorry.

"_Homo sapiens_ are the dominant race on Earth. You've studied your own planetary ecosystem and understand your place but sometimes, you are restrained or encouraged by certain things. Judaism, if I'm right, prevents you from eating pork but in Asia, you hunt down sharks for their fins to make shark fin soup. The fin gives you absolutely no nutritional value for the soup; it's just a decoration."

"You mean the Chinese?"

"Yes, the shark is an empowering symbol to them so they hunt them despite what they already know about the fins."

Roxy nodded. She had already read about this before and found the practice of shark finning detestable.

"Let's think of merfolk though. They live underwater so digital technology and everything we're used to is absolutely useless to them. They're usually not ever concerned with the things that happen outside of water. They don't have an established writing system. They're like us but at the same time, they aren't. It's very hard to explain. They have the same mental capacity for math and philosophy but evolution has made them the way they are. They are much more primal, more direct about things. What they see as good and bad is not the same as you do."

"What are you trying to get at already?!" Roxy said frustrated. "Asta?" Roxy was sure that she was not going to get a straight answer out of Helia and she was almost afraid to ask Riven because he might be too blunt about it. Helia's long homily was starting to worry her. What did this have to do with a can of food?

"Well, she is going to learn one day how to read the box, right?" Riven said.

Asta swallowed hard, as if hesitating on a momentous decision. She looked to Roxy, concerned for the girl-almost-woman. "Look, I'm going to tell you what's in this but don't get upset, please."

Roxy nodded. Whatever they were talking could not be as bad.

Asta handled her opened can and read from the label to avoid Roxy's gaze. "Snapdragon salad with sautéed merfolk fry."

-

Roxy dropped the can and pushed it away from her, horrified. "There's mermaids in there?!" she screeched. She spat out her food and suddenly wanted to wretch.

They nodded expectantly.

"_There's fucking mermaids in this?!_"

This was not right! Mermaids were not supposed to be packed into cans for human consumption! They supposed to be beautiful magical creatures traveling any and all waters without fear of being caught.

"Ohmigod, that's not right!" Roxy's hands flew to her mouth. She got up and ran from the camp.

-

It was a very long time before Asta came to fetch Roxy and return her to the camp. She had heard the helicopter fly off in the distance to Gardenia.

"What the fucking hell is wrong with you people?!" Roxy screamed with a tear-drenched face. Asta sat a good distance away from Roxy, at least beyond arm's length. Roxy had been sitting in the same spot for a very long time, just crying.

"Monsters, monsters, monsters! All of you are monsters!" Roxy sobbed. "What is wrong with you people?!" She screamed profanities at the witch but Asta took them all in without fighting. Roxy's reaction was natural and her statements were very true. There was no arguing any of it.

"How can you people do any of this?! How can you stand yourselves?!" She broke off into sobbing. Roxy wiped her tears with her sleeves and Asta took this chance to hand Roxy a water bottle.

"Just drink, please."

Roxy drank, finding her throat parch from yelling, and eventually fell into silence, unable to say more. Asta took this as a chance to speak.

"Look, I understand everything. I don't need to read minds to know what you're feeling. You feel that we should not be eating things that can be just as intelligent and talented as us. Yes, it's wrong to us but you have to understand that even fish on Earth eat their own fry. Sometimes, you have to see the mermaids as not only people but animals too. It's not uncommon for a parent fish, or merman, to eat his own…fry. Look, I can't imagine what someone feels when they eat their own child. I can't all and I would not want to read the mind of someone who did. I think it's an abomination if you did. I would kill them myself, if I could.

"Children are precious. They are the culmination of our hopes and dreams but…this is the merman's nature to eat his own fry.

"You have to understand that it's food. You need food to survive. You're not immortal. When someone is desperate enough…it happens. The merfolk don't see it as wrong. It's a natural part of the cycle. The bigger fish always eats the smaller fish. That meal is no different from eating a can of caviar that you can get in the supermarket. I'm sorry and I'm sad about these things but there's no helping it at times. Please, don't be mad at me or Helia or Riven."

"I…" Roxy looked up, unsure of what to feel towards the situation. "I'm not mad at you, it's just…how?"

"We're desensitized by this. Helia and Riven especially because of Red Fountain. I don't know how else I can explain this to you. Can I sit beside you?"

Roxy nodded and Asta moved so that she was sitting closer.

The witch looked to the treetops for answers. "To put it simply, they are insensitive, which is their strength. Specialists don't do what a regular soldier does and it requires a much more complex but simpler mind to handle it. Insensitivity is also their weakness because they forget that the way they act is not how normal people act. Helia doesn't see the 'salad' as cannibalizing their friend, it's just food that feeds and keeps them going. They look at it for the absolute value of it. Get it?"

"Yes, but if mermaids are just as equal to us, like you said, why would they…?"

"Let us eat their eggs? A mermaid lays about two hundred eggs. I don't like it but it's impractical to raise all of them. You and me, we can have one, two or maybe three babies on our own but imagine trying to raise six or eight. It's not easy without help."

"I'm starting to understand." It was not rare for fish on Earth to eat their own eggs or fry. It was just hard to associate such a primal and sickening behavior to a mermaid that was equally smart as her. In her mind, mermaids were different from fish but the way they lived as Asta said suggested otherwise. Who was she to compare a land-loving human to a mermaid? Obviously, evolution went their separate ways and each evolved in a way that best fitted them for assured survival in their respective environments.

"We're here for a reason," Asta continued. "I chose this place so you can learn magic. We need to start. This might be the one and only time that you ever eat _that_, okay? We need to work, Roxy.

"The first principle in magic is to know yourself. (2) You are always learning about yourself and your world, changing and reevaluating everything. From this, you have to decide where your place in the world is. You've chosen to stand against eating the merfolk. You decided that you can't eat their fry because you mourn the lost of something intelligent that is equal to yours. I didn't do this purposely to you, to eat _that_ but this somewhat encompasses what the first principle is."

"That's it?"

"There's a lot more but you understand what you believe in and what you think is right and wrong. It's also about knowing what your purpose as a fairy is but I'm told that it comes to you in time. The second principle is to know your craft."

* * *

**Latter Note:**

1) Closed system: I realise that some of my readers have not completed high school yet. "A system which is isolated so that it cannot exchange matter or energy with its surroundings and can therefore attain a state of thermodynamic equilibrium. Also known as isolated system." Used in thermodynamics (usually in chemistry class).

2) The principle is _to know yourself_. To me, this can be interpreted as integrity and principled. Understanding and adherence to an ethic are important to being successful in today's world and the one to come.

I hope this sounds better. I knew the first version was off and that I was probably venting some anger at the world around me. I apologize for the first version.


	43. Chapter 43

**Verboten  
****Chapter 43**

Saturday, April 17, 2010

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Winx Club series. I do own Raido, Honey, Dante, Quinn, Edric and Sybarite (and about twenty other characters). I don't even own Wolf, sad isn't it?

**Fore Note:** Chapter 42 has been reposted. It's significantly different from the first version but still the same content. Also, the site screwed with the format of this so tell me if you see some mistakes.

* * *

**Magix.**

The Winx Club, Jared's team of specialists that had just arrived from Lake Crystal and a handful of female specialists from Saint Xanthe's abbey were in Saladin's office, the war room.

There was a brief round of introductions despite the specialists being tired. They sensed that something extremely important was happening and sleeping was not an option.

"Aren't there supposed to be six of you?" Dante noted drily, counting only five fairies. "I know fairies aren't exactly known for being grounded but really—ow!"

"It's too early to deal with your cracks," Sybarite said. She wore a uniform consisting of a red and white jumpsuit, hip-length red coat that hid her feminine curves and a yellow ceremonial baldric denoted her rank over her shoulder.

"Tecna is currently in the medical centre under observation. She was surfing the web telepathically when an email to a woman named Nina came back and started doing unnatural things to the laptop from her end. As of now, Tecna's mind is believed to be still in the laptop and trapped," Saladin explained.

"If I may ask," the specialist known as Edric asked, "What does Nina have to do with anything? Who is she? What is her importance?"

The old headmaster sighed. "With these girls, it's obvious they're involved in something very large," he pointed to the Winx Club. "Aside from that, you're on a need-to-know basis only." Saladin went on to explain that Nina had left them and an email and phone number to contact.

"I guess that means you want us to find this Nina fast and arrest her?"

Saladin nodded. "Try to find a way to make sure that Tecna is still alive and find out what Nina did. As of now, due to priority of this mission, Sergeant Lockwood, your cover is no longer needed."

"Sergeant?!" Dante asked.

Jared straightened up in his seat all of a sudden and the rest of his team looked at him for an explanation.

"S-sir?!" Jared stuttered.

"There's no time for this training pretense. I want this done quickly and efficiently. You will be exempted from all of your courses, practises and other duties until this issue is resolved. You will also be moved to the senior floor and have access to your own lab. I want daily reports, understood?"

"Yessir!" the boys said.

Saladin turned to the girls of Saint Xanthe's. "The same applies for you. You will be moved to the dorms reserved for special operations personnel. Your things are on its way."

"Yes, sir," Sybarite answered.

"Questions?"

The room was quiet for a moment.

"Why us?" the dark-haired Raido asked solemnly. "We're second-year students. Why not get the seniors working on this? They get more assignments than they actually attend classes so it seems…"

"Because you are the most qualified for this," Saladin said quickly but the response seemed unsatisfactory, as if that had not been the real answer. The specialists gave the old man a look of disbelief. "You are dismissed."

They all rose and filed out of the room but Jared stayed back. The Winx Club was still seated, looking confused.

"And what are we supposed to do?" Bloom asked.

"Continue your duties at Alfea. I don't believe for a second that the video Nina gave us is a joke. You would have to be an idiot to pull that kind of stunt at here. Sergeant Lockwood, what do you want?"

Jared jumped from his spot on the wall. "Um, I need one of them to start our search for Nina…just one person, that's all. Also, um, if I may reiterate Specialist Maedue's question: why us? Is it because of the SN—?"

"Not here, Lockwood."

"Yes, sir."

Saladin rose from his seat. "Will one of you go with Jared? I will keep you updated about Tecna but the rest of you can return to Alfea."

Musa was nearest to the door and stood up. "I'll go with him."

-

"Follow me," Jared said. They went into an elevator that required a pass card and password for access.

"So how've you been?" he asked. Musa could hear his heart beating rapidly.

"I'm fine, and you? I thought you graduated already. What are you doing still here?"

"I'm doing my service here. I was 'undercover' to spy on students, to put it simply."

Musa remembered Riven mentioning something about staying with Red Fountain for a year after graduating in passing. It was something about being an assistant or something like how she was being an intern. "Is that what Riven did, too?"

"Last year only but he was not undercover. He was, um, I think, a TA sort of. He weeded out the first years."

They arrived to a windowless corridor with a dozen doors. In each door was a window and Musa could see teams of senior specialists working or arguing with each other. The rooms were soundproof, Musa guessed from the lack of even the smallest sounds.

Jared unlocked one room and where the specialists from before were seated Tecna's laptop. "Okay, guys, what have you gotten so far?"

Musa did not like what she saw. She saw a bunch of second years handling a senior mission.

The boy with the long black hair tied in a ponytail called Raido spoke up, "We've only been here for four minutes, Jared, give us—oh, wait, it's sergeant, isn't it?"

"Just call me Jared. Keep it simple."

The team did not look too happy with the answer.

The boy with catlike green eyes sighed. "I've tried starting it up but as soon as it does, it starts shutting down."

"What does the screen say?"

"The screen doesn't even come on."

"Then that means you're gonna have to physically take it apart and reconnect it by hand. Get to it."

Musa watched for a moment and winced as the white-haired Quinn pulled out a screwdriver to take off the bottom panel and reveal the hard disk drive. Tecna was not going to like that.

"She's not going to get the computer back," the blond woman called Honey reassured. She sat beside Jared who was typing on another computer.

"And why not?"

"No one ever wants a computer back after it's gone through the authorities' hands because one, it's beyond saving, and two, it belongs to the authorities. I'm sorry, take a seat," Honey rolled a chair towards the music fairy. Honey wore a red uniform similar to Red Fountain's blue one but she wore an opened jacket over it.

Musa tried to smile. "So, what do you need me for, Jared?"

"The email is a dud but this Nina left a phone number. We're going to have you call her and ask her to confirm her identity. Do you mind?"

"Why is it only me here?" It seemed wrong to be the only one helping Tecna out of her mess, Musa thought.

"How many people do you need to make a phone call?" Jared asked.

Right, Musa thought. She took the offered phone from Jared and was briefed on what exactly to do.

"We're going to trace the call. Keep her talking for at least a minute. Normally, I could just put it through the phonebook but this number is from off-planet."

Musa nodded and took a deep nervous breath. She could hear her own heart beat deafeningly. It rang three times and Musa's heart stopped when it stopped.

"Hello?"

Musa stumbled with her words

"Nai, geia sou? Moshi moshi? Bonjour…?" the speaker said the last part, sounding dubious.

"Um, yes, I'm looking for Nina."

"Oh, hi! This is Nina. How may I help you?"

"My name is Musa, of the Winx Club. You came to Red Fountain and gave them a video."

"Musa?" Nina purred the name. "Yes, I did."

"I would like to know how you got it."

"Do we really need to keep this up? I know that you're probably tracing this call. I gave it to Red Fountain, a school of special ops trained for these things."

Musa watched Jared swear silently.

"If I'm right, we have another thirty seconds to go before you can locate me. Unfortunately, I can't take that risk and I'm not going to tell you anything over the phone. Meet me in Nessarose Park in Magix. Three days from now—"

"No, wait! What about tomorrow? My friend—"

"Two days then. At the statue of Clariel, at three. I apologise but goodbye, Musa." Nina hung up.

Honey took the phone out of Musa's trembling hands.

What had she done?

"You did good, Musa." Honey placed her hands on Musa's shoulders. "She at least arranged a meeting."

"I can tell you that she's still in the country," Jared coordinates off a computer monitor. "Now, we just need to stake out the place…"

"I'm sorry."

"Don't," Jared assured. "It's better than nothing but this lady obviously knows how to play the game."

Musa tried to not dwell on the phone call but she could not help it. She felt very tired all of a sudden. She looked to the Tecna's laptop which had been stripped of its casing.

"How's the computer?" she asked.

Edric looked at the infuriating hard disk drive which had several wires attached to it. The wires connected to the nearest workstation where Quinn was busily trying to connect to it. Musa saw a complicated coding program on the holographic screen.

"The computer is not reading it at all. I've tried everything I can but this is beyond my level of training," Quinn said. He detached some wires from the stripped drive. "If there is a consciousness inside this, I don't want to screw with it. I might accidentally delete her or something. Magic and digital technology is not my favourite combination. I sent Raido to check the school registries. I hope he comes back with some good news. Musa, if you don't mind me calling you that, do you know anyone else with powers like Tecna? Any friends? Not like that pixie Digit though."

Musa tried to think for a moment. Did Tecna have any other friends besides the Winx Club? Tecna had always been a solitary woman and there were very few people with powers like hers. Musa shook her head, "No. Technology is not a very important power in the scheme of the universe. Fairies are born where they are needed. But I don't know everyone at Alfea and or anyone from Cloud Tower."

"I thought as much."

Raido came back and sighed. "No one with digital powers or anything close to being useful. I even checked the Abbey and the schools across the mountains."

"I have an idea," Edric fidgeted in his seat. "What if we mentally dove into the computer?"

"Are you a fairy all of a sudden?" Dante, who had been almost nothing, said. Sybarite flicked his forehead.

"There is an experimental technology at Gaia Tech called the SND program."

"Hold it right there!" Dante raised a hand. "The test tube baby and clones place?"

"They're also a reputable prosthetics company, Dante," Sybarite snipped. "Anyways, continue Edric. SND?"

"Gaia Technologies, I had worked there for a bit before I came to Red Fountain. When I left, they had started a project called the Synaptic Net Dive program. It was about uploading one's mind into a computer for a certain amount of time."

Musa pursed her lips, interested. Didn't Timmy use something like that to track Tecna when she was on Omega? He had somehow gotten access to couple of satellites around Omega and sorted through the data that Tecna was alive when she was broadcasting her mind through them.

Musa had heard of the company vaguely from Tecna. Gaia Technologies was a company know for working medical miracles from replacing limbs, biologically or mechanically to creating whole artificial bodies. They were a cutting edge research company but it was not above them to sell their patents for a pretty penny. Musa mainly knew them from what Tecna had told her and skimmed from the news.

"Okay, this is useful. How long ago was this though?" Sybarite said

"Two years ago."

"Do you think that they're still working on this?" Sybarite quirked a brow. Not all projects always got the green light.

"They completed it a year ago." Musa could almost jump for joy at this tidbit of information.

"And how do you know this?" Dante said suspiciously. "This is way too convenient. I've read too many things from Gaia Tech to take this as a serious solution."

"Gaia Tech, they're my sponsor."

"Oh."

"Yeah, oh."

Jared crossed his arms, thinking. "It's obvious that they're not just going to let us waltz in and use their stuff. Edric, can you arrange a meeting of some sort? I'd like to know more about this, if possible."

"I'll try."

"Gaia Tech's current chief researcher is an ex-student from the Abbey," Sybarite offered. "Maybe she can help us."

Musa could hear in Edric's heart that something was not right. His tune was broken and sharp like glass. She looked to Jared and saw that something was bubbling under his surface too. There was tension in the team from the lack of progress. They were also evidently tired from their previous mission.

Musa suggested to leave feeling useless and Jared escorted her down the Red Fountain complex. They were in an elevator again. Jared leaned against a wall with his eyes closed.

"Are you nervous, Jared?"

He lips curved but he did not open his eyes. "Very. I want to sleep too and I think I might just do that. I might have a clearer mind about it. And you, how do you feel?"

"I…I don't think I did much."

"That phone call means a lot, Musa. You have no idea."

"But I don't feel like I'm contributing much. I feel so helpless. I can't do anything because this is Tecna's thing. If it had not been her asleep or trapped or whatever, I think that she would be doing whatever she could to fix this. All I can do is play music. What can I do with computers? I mean music is music. Bloom has the Flame, Flora has plants, Stella has the sun…"

"You're underestimating yourself, Musa. Sometimes, you make it seem like only you and your friends are allowed to save the universe but there are smaller and more devious evils out there that I deal with. It's those smaller evils that are the most terrifying because the people you arrest are people like you and me. It's like looking into a mirror and seeing your darker self, what you might have wanted to be. It's not like going against Valtor, he's an inexplicable evil that you cannot on any level understand. It's easier in some ways. I know that you specialise in music but…can't you take the magic out of your music for a moment and think about what kind of joy you would bring people?"

"_Joy_, Jared?"

"I cannot think of one entity that does not appreciate music. Music is so universal, Musa, that it's amazing how such a concept transcends two groups of people that have never met. Have you thought about that?"

"Yes, but I already knew that."

"It sounds like you're not happy with that enlightenment then."

"I just thought that there was something more to being…I don't know, _me_. I learn all these things but I'm never happy."

The elevator doors opened and they exited. They were on the lowest floor on the complex.

"You sound like you want to do more on the battlefield when you can do just as much good at home, waiting."

"What?" Musa knitted her brows together. That had sounded vaguely chauvinistic, especially coming from Jared.

"You seem to be unsatisfied with what you have, that's all. You have everything you want to make you happy but you don't want to be happy using those things, or you just don't know how."

"Jared, you're on crack," Musa said defensively. Pff! She knew how to be happy.

"Probably."

"How do you know I have everything I need to be happy?" Musa came to a stop.

"What could it possibly take to be happy with your lot in life? This is my opinion but y'know, we're too focused on getting that happy fairy tale ending. Normal people are so unhappy today not because whatever comes their way was bad but because they are looking for something that does not exist. It's like you and Riven. You look happy with him sometimes but I know that he's a jackass and it makes you angry. Think about it though, it _is_ Riven. He's a jerk by blood but at least he's a good one. He's not going to change or else he wouldn't be Riven."

Suddenly, Musa wanted to punch Jared in the face and it was alarmingly tempting. Jared's psychoanalysis was frighteningly quite like Musa was feeling but it could not be helped. She had grown up in a broken family with a dead mother and a strict overbearing father. Was it wrong to make sure that the past did not repeat itself in her?

"And we're not normal people, Jared?"

"Well, no. Fairies are…well, they're picked by a force that is beyond understanding. That is hard enough for me. Specialists, we're sort of normal but we're not. We do things that regular people can't do at all. We're like the cream of the crop when it comes to genetics and abilities. We're superhuman, in a sense. And witches, they're superhuman too but with magic. It's one of the reasons why our schools are outside the city."

Musa was disconcerted by Jared's logic about not being considered normal. She had always been surrounded by magic like it was normal but that 'normal' was only for a select few who understood those supernatural phenomena. Normal for other people, the rest of the universe, was a life without magic or powers that made you stick out.

"Normal people don't save the world, Musa. They're too scared, not made for the job and this is why they have us. They research and research to determine what would be the perfect person to do the job and they chose us. It's utilitarianism—the greatest good for the greater amount of people."

"And you don't mind being _used_?"

"And you don't, Musa? Would you rather have someone who was weaker and less competent than us? How would you have felt if you had sent a freshman fairy to defeat Valtor instead of yourself?"

Musa imagined Galatea fighting the Trix when they were trying to raid Alfea's library. She had tried to take the witches singlehandedly, which had been brave and very stupid. Despite being a princess, Galatea had still been a freshman fairy. In terms of musical prowess, the blond was a virtuoso but that was the extent of it. Galatea neither was not street smart nor was she experienced in combat. She had no personal vendetta against the witches like Musa did with Darcy.

"Our flaw is that we like doing these things out of the goodness of our hearts; we like making people happy even at the cost of ourselves. We believe that karma will repay us one day for our deeds to society," Jared said.

The room they were in was small and circular. In the center was the elevator and entire wall had one long ending plane of thick glass that stopped at a heavy sealed door to prevent the strong winds from entering the school.

"You believe in karma?" In other words, she had said "Do you really believe that karma will repay us?"

"This is the law of return that we're talking about, Musa. No one is exempt to it. What matters the most is what you make of what is returned to you. Don't you believe in it?"

"Well…" No, she didn't. She had been raised pragmatically by her father.

All the wonder of life had disappeared when her mother had died. She knew that something in her father had died and Musa had almost died with him there but something whispered for her to continue, that life was not over. She had cried and mourned for a long time. It was not until her school teacher had once asked her "Is this what your mother would've wanted of you, Musa?" that she had started to pull out of her childhood depression.

From then on, she had resolved to try to be happy while being raised by her father and she became the person she was today—with a little bit of tweaking by Riven as well. Jerk. She could imagine that annoying smug grin on his face.

"Do you believe that you deserve at least a little bit of happiness in your life?"

Musa paused. "Of course!"

"You don't sound like it."

What? Musa shot daggers from her eyes as Jared turned to open a sealed door that led onto an opened platform outside. They were on the lowest level of the Red Fountain complex as the building itself was more of a floating fortress. "See ya," he saluted.

"Yeah…bye."

The wind was strong and Musa stepped out while Jared hastily sealed the door shut behind her. She focused for a moment and she was wrapped in a cocoon of musical staffs. She felt her wings grow out of her back and the purple glow faded from her. She looked down at herself, in her enchantix form, perplexed and worried. The music fairy took wing and flew back home to Alfea, troubled by the current predicaments and what Jared had said.

* * *

**Latter Note:** The first time I wrote this, Jared was going to talk about _duhhka_ (from Buddhism), specifically the first truth of the Four Noble Truths, but I thought it was too heavy for a Winx Club fic and for Jared and Musa.

**Another disclaimer:** SND is from Final Fantasy VII (Dirge of Cerberus).


	44. Chapter 44

**Verboten  
****Chapter 44**

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Winx Club. I do own this amazingly long and tedious story.

**Fore Note:** A round of thanks is in order for Darev and Stills and Photographs for religiously reviewing my story and to summerlovin76 and Robert Teague.

Special thanks to Darev who told me that Roxy was too whiny in the first version.

No thanks to the site who have made it impossible for me use centred hypens for breaks in the story. I have emailed them about the issue.

* * *

Since she was very young, Roxy had considered herself an awkward sort of loner. She was not totally antisocial but she had felt that something was different with her. She preferred Artu to real humans for company and sometimes, she was just plain perturbed by human nature.

She remembered in her last year of high school that the teacher had left the class for a moment and one student had had to stupidity and pour hand sanitizer into the teacher's water bottle. In the end, the student had gotten in trouble just before graduation for intoxicating the teacher and sending her to a poison control centre.

Human nature was synonymous for stupidity.

A bird or a dog would have never done that and neither would she which was why she preferred animals to people sometimes.

She hoped that her father could manage the house and the bar by himself for the weekend. He was still recovering from the bullet wound.

"Is this really Italy still?" Roxy asked Asta. They dropped their bags to the ground to rest. They had hiked some distance up a hill. On the other side was a small lake in the valley and its surface was silvery and reflecting the sun like a mirror. Layers of green forest raced down the surrounding mountains to meet up at the lake.

"You make it sound like you've never seen a lake before."

"It's just something you don't see often at home. I mean all these trees…"

The witch stood back for a moment to contemplate the girl. Roxy was like a newly born baby seeing the world for the first time.

They made their way down to the small lake and set a blue tarpaulin on the ground. Roxy looked into the lake for fish, not that she was going to see any. She was disappointed though when all she saw was the dirty brown water. She saw a black coot in the middle of the lake, docilely swimming. She regarded her blurry reflection in the water and she saw her lips move, telling her something. She blinked her eyes, thinking she was hallucinating. She fell back on her bottom and held her head. Her head pounded like a drum.

Her mind was being assaulted by all sorts of images and she saw her reflection try to speak to her. In an instant, she saw the entire world and she heard her reflection talking to her in a thousand languages. She heard a thousand voices speak to her fervently with many accents from the past and present, some them from languages that were long dead.

Finally, her reflection spoke to her in an understandable tongue, "_Don't touch the water!_" her reflection shrieked, pounding against the surface of an invisible window in the water. "_Get away from the water!_" And then Roxy fainted, some force ripping her spirit from her body.

There was that darkness again. It felt comforting like a worn blanket but chilly and foreign. It was like that dreamy darkness one felt between sleep and waking up.

Roxy knew that she was far from being awake. She sat up, wary of her surroundings. She had seen this darkness before. This was the dreamworld, as she had called it. She understood that whatever was happening here did not direct affect her current world somehow but she knew that they were undoubtedly connected. She just could not see how. She looked about expectantly for someone to come out and start talking; Nebula, the Lioness or the veiled woman who defended her from Nebula.

Life was one thing after another. The most recent apparition from her mind had been her own reflection in the water telling her to get away. God, she needed therapy or someone to interpret her dreams.

She looked down at herself. She was wearing the scandalous green and pink outfit with ruffles. Her shirt covered only one arm and barely her midriff and her short shorts were indescribably uncomfortable aesthetically for her tastes. She let out a breath when she saw the pair of green and mauve heart-shaped wings on her back. It was comforting but she wondered if this was simply a figment of her imagination.

"Roxanna!"

Roxy turned around suddenly at the mention of her name and she found herself on a wide stone path in the middle of a picturesque flower garden that went on for miles, like in a Monet painting. All around her, she saw mountains rise up to the sky in the distance.

Her eyes fell on a black-haired woman with tanned skin. The woman looked puzzled, inspecting her own person like she was wondering if she actually existed.

She was dark-skinned like Flora and her braided black hair fell to her ankles. She wore an embroidered leather top that reached over one shoulder. The other shoulder had a pauldron and over her waist was a belt made of metal disks. She wore leather gloves and a brown ankle-length skirt. She kind of reminded Roxy of an American Indian like Pocahontas except Pocahontas was not a fairy. This woman had large light blue glittering butterfly wings.

"And who are you?" Roxy asked. She straightened up; readying herself for whatever destiny would throw at her next. She needed to take control of what was happening to her and the first step would be to understand what was going on.

The Native American woman looked up surprised.

"You heard me, Roxanna?"

"You can call me Roxy but yeah, I heard you."

The woman was speechless. Roxy saw her mouth try to form words but none came out. After a long time, the tanned girl approached her with unsure bare feet.

"Roxanna, I am Sokanon. I was the Fairy of Animals, your predecessor."

"I-I don't understand. You are my predecessor?" Roxy said in disbelief. Sokanon had guided her to a large mossy stone and they sat on it.

"Before you, there was me, Roxanna. I was the Fairy of Animals. I was born in 1320 and—"

"Please, just stop!" Roxy said. "You were the Fairy of Animals. You're saying that you came before me. What does this mean about _me_?" The pink-haired girl pointed to herself.

"Roxanna, I am dead." Sokanon held her by the shoulders and Roxy shivered as if a bucket of ice water had been thrown on her. Sokanon's touch was as cold as death and her being emanated a ghostly aura. "It means that _you_ are the Fairy of Animals."

"Why me?" Roxy felt like those two words were insufficient at expressing the many thoughts in her mind. "So I'm the Fairy of Animals. I…wow…that's really _out _there…"

"You accept it?" Sokanon said surprised.

"I don't have much of a choice."

"That's good because there is much I want to do before something takes you away from me. Right now, you are on the plane of the dead, the void, but I know that you are not dead. If we had time, I would teach you myself or let discover you powers on your own but we don't have that luxury…Roxy…right?"

The pink-haired fairy nodded with a smile.

Honestly, deep inside of her, she still hated being a fairy. There was no point in hiding it but there was no point in fighting it either. She was what she was and she could not change it. It was just so confusing. Finding out that she was a princess (hypothetically, of course) would have been so much easier to deal with than being a fairy.

"But how is 'animals' a power? It's not like water or fire or plants." Roxy rubbed her hot neck with one hand to show her nervousness. "What kind of spells do I get from that?"

Sokanon looked at Roxy in disbelief. "Roxy, you're a fairy, not a warrior. We shouldn't take sides, especially if our affinity is something as important as animals."

"What can we do exactly?"

"Don't you know already?" Sokanon said expectantly.

Roxy became puzzled. "Know what?"

"Can you feel it in your bones the urge to sing with the birds and explore the places you've seen a thousand times in a completely new way?"

Roxy looked to her for further explanation.

"Have you ever felt more connected to animals than you thought was normal?"

An unsettling feeling started to creep up Roxy's spine. She wanted to say something and but she was not sure what to say. "Yes…?"

"You don't sound confident."

"It's just I don't know how to go about this," Roxy paused to collect her thoughts. "What do I say to my dad? How do I explain…?"

Sokanon looked ahead into the abyss of the garden. Butterflies fluttered from flower to flower. "A parent's, a human's, love is eternal," she spoke from some deep-seeded experience. "Klaus may not understand, but I do think he will. He loves you unconditional but you make it sound like you are alone. Klaus, no what or where, will be there with you."

"Dad?" Roxy gasped at the sight of her father who was walking towards her in the garden, smiling and unwounded. His arm was not in a sling. Roxy frowned at the sight.

"An image of your father, Roxanna, but all the same." Sokanon gestured to the illusion and broke into a sweat. "Klaus will always love you no matter what. That is the love of a parent but he is not the only one."

Behind Klaus's legs, Artu trotted to Roxy's feet, sat and placed his muzzle on Roxy's knee. He was warm and alive as ever and she patted him. He whimpered in concern.

"Artu loves you. He may not be able to speak in a language that you can understand but he loves you. There isn't only him though, Roxy. Look."

Roxy gasped as animals of every kind in closed in on them: lions, tigers, elephants, bears, wolves, leopards, deer, moose, swarms of insects, dragons, griffins, chimeras, unicorns, pegasi and every creature imaginable from the animal kingdom and mythology. She almost fainted when she saw a tarantula crawl up her lap. Sokanon held her down tight and gently took the tarantula off of Roxy and placed it on her own lap.

"As the Fairy of Animals, every creature will defend you if you defend them."

Roxy bathed in the warmth and love from every creature, getting a feeling of confidence and reassurance and smiled.

Sokanon looked around worriedly. "I'm sorry if I can't take more time to explain and teach you everything, Roxy, but I must be quick. I don't know how we met or how long I have but we must make the most of this meeting."

Roxy sobered up as the images of the animals faded. Klaus and Artu disappeared. "What's going to happen?"

"I know that the wizards of the Black Circle are after you and I don't know how to destroy them. I don't know how they got their immortality but it is wrong and it cannot be. All I can do is give you the means to defend yourself from them until you can find out how to beat them. Give me your hands." Sokanon forced Roxy's hands into fists and enveloped them into Sokanon's freezing hands. "What I'm going to do is dangerous. I'm going to give you knowledge that you should learn on your own but we don't have the luxury of time. It's going be like steroids and most likely painful. Are you willing to take it? For the sake of the animals, for the sake all the humans on Earth? You are strong, Roxy. You just need to see it for yourself.

"You are in good hands. Follow you instincts and trust the people you believe are good and you won't be wrong."

"Yes, I'll try."

She placed her fore against Roxy's and whispered a nonsensical prayer.

Roxy felt her mind pound as Sokanon chanted. It was like something was invading her and setting up permanent roots in her spirit. Roxy shivered. She heard a thousand sounds, hearing dead words as if they were natural to her. She thought she heard angel's singing in her head.

Roxy clenched her fist tightly. She wanted to pull her forehead away from Sokanon but could not. Sokanon was freezing cold to the touch that it burned. It was like a thousand little creatures were entering her mind and settling in some dark corner. She felt raw magic flow from Sokanon's head arms up her own.

At last, the pain subsided and Sokanon pulled away from her.

"What did you do?" Roxy asked, holding her head.

"I gave you the power to speak to animals. You will need it, if you are the Fairy of Animals," Sokanon said, extremely tired. Sokanon glowed palely, her aura turning slightly pale. "Unfortunately, I do not know the language of every creature on Earth. I only learnt the ones that I met and now you have assimilated them, Roxy. I feel weak."

Roxy held the woman by the shoulders before she fell. "Sokanon, you said that you were born in 1320. What does—?"

"I am dead, Roxy. I am a ghost and I have been for several centuries. I have been waiting for you to be born," Sokanon breathed heavily, as if talking was an incredible effort. "They say that an affinity hallows out a piece of our spirit and throws that piece of us into the void to wait for us to return after death. The affinity takes residence in that hole in our soul and guides us during our stay on Earth."

"You're not going to fade away, are you?"

"No, no, I cannot be reborn until I find that missing part of my spirit. I am simply tired. I feel that someone has been working, that there is a greater scheme. Roxy, do you remember what happened when the White Circle tampered your memories?"

"No." Roxy had no recollection of what had happened when Sky, Bloom and Asta had ventured into her mind. It had felt like she had a fairly short nap but that nap happened to have lasted for several days.

"I went in and saw the memories for myself. I saw that even in the memories that there were signs of tampering, even the witch received signs."

"The witch? You mean Asta? Is she bad or good?" Roxy's heart constricted at the thought. Who was there that she could trust?

"Bad? No. I can't tell. She's dark but…light, I feel. Good intentions. It's hard to discern her with one word. Part of our ability as the Fairy of Animals is to judge a creature's heart but Asta is not from Earth, yet she seems like she could be. As we go through life, you'll see there is so much that we don't understand. And the only thing we know is things don't always go the way we planned but you'll see every day that we'll never turn away.

"Take her lessons. Stay away from the Black Circle. Just make sure that what you decide is what you _want_. Asta will try to influence you. One more thing, as the Fairy of Animals, you will be able to see beyond what is in front of you. You will see the planet in a way that no human or animal sees it."

Without warning, a mist rolled in on a strong wind, making Roxy shielded against the gust.

"What are you doing to me?" Roxy heard Sokanon say. "I can't leave yet!"

Roxy lowered her arms and found herself in a fog so dense that she could not the flowers around her. Sokanon had disappeared.

"Sokanon!"

"_It is time to go back to Asta, Roxy._"

Asta had moved Roxy's body away from the lake and had her laid down on a tarpaulin. She had a hand on the pink-haired girl's forehead, trying to read her mind. Roxy's mind had been alarmingly silent, almost dead or at least unoccupied by a soul and Asta panicked until Roxy sat straight up and abruptly hitting Asta.

Roxy's mind was foggy. "Asta?"

The witch straightened up. "I'm here. Where were you, Roxy?"

Roxy rubbed her eyes and they fell onto the lake with the brown water. She did not feel any different but suddenly, she saw the lake differently.

The lake surface was littered with rotting fish and fallen vegetation. The leaves of the trees around them were wilting and black on the branches and the bark had started to fall off the trees with unnatural tumour growths on them. Some were small as a fist and some were huge as a beach ball, some of them were secretion a strange liquid like pus. Death radiated from the lake. The black coot that had been swimming was suddenly drowning in the rancid water.

The birds wails were akin to a child in mortal pain to Roxy.

"The bird!" Roxy pointed. "It's going to drown! We have to save it."

Asta turned and looked at the coot. "What about you?"

"Asta!"

Asta flew over the lake and plucked the waterfowl. She returned to Roxy in less than a minute. The witch put the bird on the ground. It, no, he waddled on the ground exhausted.

"Thank you," the black bird whispered.

Roxy jumped back, surprised. It spoke to her?

Exhausted, the bird ceased to struggle on its legs, fell to its side and died.

Asta looked to the side, wishing she was not there. The witch struggled to keep a straight face but she seemed be battling an inner turmoil of her own: she was hearing the bird's thoughts as it died. Unexpectedly, she picked up the dead bird and threw it into the bush, with a haunted look in her eyes.

"Asta!"

"The bird was poisoned by the lake water and the lake water is being polluted by something. We must leave now, Roxy."

Roxy looked at the lifeless lake. They folded the blue tarpaulin she had been sitting on and set out for their campsite. Roxy was even more troubled.

"You reacted worst than I thought that you would," Asta said, referring to when Roxy fainted. They were back at their campsite. "The lake was not like that when I went and scouted ahead a few days ago and you were not supposed to faint at the sight of it. As someone who practises magic, it is important to be in intimately tuned with nature. Not just like Flora, but to see yourself as a bigger piece of the puzzle. Something is accelerating the process at the lake." Asta seemed to be talking more to herself than to Roxy.

Roxy kept silent about the coot. She had tried to get an explanation out of the witch: "I read minds whether I like it or not. I may not completely understand the thoughts of all creatures but death is universal. It is a creature's passion to keep living that is terrifying; it's fiercer than a dragon protecting its eggs. It's like the screaming of…I can't describe it and I'm glad that I can't. I faint every time I visit graveyards or places of death because there are so many restless souls."

Asta gathered some things from their various backpacks and Roxy watched. "So what are we going to do?"

Asta unclipped her knife and magnesium block. She piled the tinder in the fire pit, shaved some curls of magnesium and lit it all on fire. She feed the fire small pieces of wood. "You are going to watch the fire while I search for more wood. Burn the fire slowly at first, like a lazy fire. Someone might come to check up on us around dinner before we crash for the night. Think about the third principle: learn; the fourth is used what you have learnt and the fifth is to attain balance in all things."

Roxy got up to argue. "Where are you going?" The fairy had a feeling that Asta was not going to look for wood but Asta was already dashing through the foods at breakneck speed, bouncing like ball in a pinball machine from tree to tree.

The witch returned to the lake and felt a feeling of nausea looking the direction that she threw the coot. She had returned to the lake because the lake's state was more than just terrible, it was wrong and she knew that it would only get worst unless something was done.

She did not mean to desecrate or disturb any creature's body after death; it is just that she could not handle it. The coot was still clinging to its dead body, like a restless ghost. Its presence was a suffocating aura of white-hot screams. Death by itself was not the thing that made Asta weak, it was the lingering feeling of why a creature fought death that made her sick. Its passion to stay alive was so overwhelming that it made her weak with madness.

Reading thoughts was her ability that she had no control over. She could only filter thoughts she interpreted but she knew that if she opened her mind for the full onslaught of a city's worth of thoughts or the complex thoughts of a being that was superior to her, madness would touch her mind from her inability to decipher.

The howling of the dead was all over the lake but it was not strong enough that even a regular magicless human could pick up on the supernatural activity. Asta felt uneasy but proceeded nonetheless. She pulled out a small candy from her pocket unwrapped it. She pulled on a silver finger armour ring that covered her whole index finger and ended with a point, like a pronounced claw.

Asta dropped the candy into the water, as an offering to the nymph. The candy was swallowed up by the rancid water. "I am Astrid Stryker, a witch. I implore you limnatide, nymph of the lake, to reveal yourself." A shimmering blue and green nimbus appeared around the witch as she compelled the nymph to talk to her.

The water gurgled and it made a disturbing sight as rotting fish was pushed to the shore on waves. A stench was released by the fish.

"I wish to know what happened to this lake," Asta continued. "I have given you an offering and my name; therefore you return the offer with your name and an answer."

The dirty polluted water boiled and the ground shook. It rose like a pillar to form a feminine human-like form. Its body was made of the vile water, on its head was a pile of decaying branches and foliage for hair and the remains of animals and other pollutants could be seen inside its body moving about like in a circulatory system.

"I am Eufemia," it said in a gurgled voice.

"Your offering is sufficient. You are not of this planet," Eufemia deemed. Eufemia, despite her decaying form, had the personality of a robot. "South of this lake is a refuge for human waste. Its poison reaches far."

"The nearest city is hours away. Why aren't you doing anything?"

"Why would I? The Black Circle is powerful and has control of this planet's flow magic. They have stolen all of the souls of Earth except for those trapped in the White Circle and one free moving soul."

"Roxy."

"Yes, but I should tell that even I am controlled by the Black Circle."

Asta leapt back in alarm as Eufemia's decaying form melded back into the water. The wretched liquid swirled and bubbled and from it, a black clothed form stepped out. His Mohawk hair cut was brushed so that it covered one bald side of his head and he wore a black linen suit. Duman frowned at the sight before him, adjusting a pair of cufflinks.

"What stupidity, they send children to do an adult's work. How old are you? Fifteen? Sixteen?" Duman glanced Asta's teenage appearance.

"What did you do to Eufemia?" Asta could hear her blood pumping in anxiety. To her, Duman was menacing but not as a wizard who could fell her in one sweep of a clawed hand but as a terrifying adult whose approval mattered. Duman looked like he had just stepped out of some executive business meeting. Her first instinct was to run but that would be stupid because she might lead him to Roxy. Despite his not-so-terrifying appearance, he looked utterly annoyed at her presence, as if _she_ had interrupted something.

"Not that it matters anymore but I got rid of the nymph centuries ago. You should be running from me, Miss Stryker."

Asta stood her ground. She ached to throw a bolt of energy at him but that would be stupid as well. She had no idea how powerful he was but she had gathered from the trip in Roxy's mind that Duman, as a member of the Black Circle, had stolen the powers of fairies and killed them off. That meant that he was a dozen, maybe a hundred times more powerful than one fairy. She did not want to test his powers.

"You're the cause for enmity for the Winx Club but it seems that they had left the Earth a day ago, at least. I can't sense their magic anywhere on this planet. That's all fine as long as they haven't taken the last fairy. Tell me, Asta Stryker, have they?"

"I will not tell you." Asta tried to read Duman's mind but his thoughts were hard to pick up on. His thoughts were spoken in a language that she did not know.

"You won't tell me or you don't know, Miss Stryker? I know the subtle differences. Tell me what you know and I'll let go with your life. I can't imagine why you're in the middle of the Apennines, anyways," he said impatiently.

Asta hesitated. She was put off by his not-so-menacing attitude. It was like she was a mere chore that Duman had to deal with and then he could get on to more important things. "I don't know where she is."

Duman scrutinized her with shrewd eyes. He stepped across the surface of the water until he was standing on the shore. As he moved forward, she moved back into the forest wanting to keep a certain amount of distance between them.

"Let's pretend for a moment that I believe you, Miss Stryker.

"Who are you? Asta Stryker? A witch from another world? I'm sure that there's more than that. I've travelled the universe and I've seen Magix. Magix is a vulgar city full of indulgence, squalor and decay like Paris or Rome, no better than what we have here on Earth. I saw the Trix's invasion and how the Army of Decay rose. I saw the fall of the kingdom of Sparks and the many wars that ensued when they thought their god the Dragon had abandoned them forever. A person's story is not as simple as one thinks when one has lived as long as I have."

The longer Duman spoke about his experiences, the more worried Asta became. She could idly stand still when Roxy's threat stood so near. "What do you want from me?"

"I want to know why you are here. What do you have to gain by being with the Winx Club and the King of Eraklyon? You must admit that you keep some very good company. A lot of princesses, a prince, a squire, a king and I suppose that even those others that I don't know have noble titles? They pretty much all come from Magix's top schools so it can only be assumed—"

"Why do you care about _me_?" she said defensively. She looked for a goal in the man's ploy. Was he stalling for time? There was no magical activity from Roxy's end but if she had decided to run and check, she would lead Duman to Roxy anyways. The best she could do was stay put and stall for time, at least until the team that supposed to check up on them at dinner arrived.

"Entertain an old man, why don't you?"

Duman gestured nonchalantly at the forest around him. All of a sudden, life was brought back to the lake and forest around it. The wretched water was clean and clear of debris. Fish swam, birds sang, flowers bloomed and trees were suddenly reinvigorated with life. Asta was unnerved by such nonchalant display of magic. Two chairs and a table appeared beside them and Duman offered her a seat like a gentleman would. Nervous, she sat. He sat across from her, unfazed by the entire situation.

A tray with a carafe of coffee and cups appeared. "Coffee?" he offered.

Asta tried to relax and think clearly. She was a witch of good breeding but she was not a Cloud Tower witch. She was not trained in the dark arts like Griffin's witches. She was a witch! Born of good blood and proud ancestry! She could do deal with Duman.

"I prefer tea."

"I can only offer you green tea. I'm not a tea connoisseur." A pot of tea appeared floating in the air and poured its contents into the cup before her.

Asta murmured her thanks and drank. She did not know what to make of Duman. He was a walking paradox: he had no qualms about destroying people and things but he was the perfect gentleman.

Duman noticed her finger claw which shone in the sunlight. It was set rubies and diamonds. On the ring was the symbol of a dragon's head. The dark wizard reached for the witch's hand abruptly to Asta's alarm.

"I have seen this dragon before, with its fangs dripping blood." He read the inscription around it. "Justus et pius. Just and faithful. Word to live by, Miss Stryker. How did you come upon this piece? Just before coming back to Earth, I was in Magix speaking to a man called the Strigoi."

Asta pulled her hand back hastily. "It's nothing special."

Duman seemed to have sunk his teeth into something juicy, judging from the witch's reaction. "Forget the ring, Miss Stryker. The better question is to ask who are you and what are you really doing here on Earth?"

Asta stiffened in fear.

A helicopter crossed the sky and Asta's heart stopped at the sight. She dared not send a thought to them or else her eyes would glow with magic and it would alert Duman that something was going on.

Duman followed her eyes. He looked at Asta thoughtfully. "A helicopter. A little far from where you would expect them. I bet that chopper belongs to your king, no? It's the kind of vehicle that I would expect that you would need on Earth, considering he is a Red Fountain graduate. Isn't it odd how their histories are smeared all across the universe, Miss Stryker? I'm sure your father would have something to say about you joining Eraklyon."

"How—!"

"My dear, I know most certainly know who are. Daughter of Eckhart Stryker, the Strigoi! What a coincidence that I got out of meeting with him."

Asta cursed and got up to run. Duman smiled as the earth swallowed Asta's feet, preventing her from escaping. Duman grabbed her arm and made her face him.

"Don't you want to know why I was meeting with your father, Miss Stryker?" the dark wizard antagonized.

The table, the chair and pristine forest disappeared as the decaying woods returned. Asta was knee-deep in mud that releasing a noxious gas. She struggled to keep her balance as both of her legs were stuck and Duman kept an iron grip over her arm.

Duman continued, "I was in a business meeting with your father. The Black Circle has decided that to deal with Eraklyon's legion on Earth, we will need a legion of our own. We're powerful but we simply can't waste our time dealing with a platoon of paracommandos every time. Don't make me hurt the daughter of the man who I just struck a deal with.

"Instead, let me offer you something better: join the Black Circle and I will guarantee that we will never harm you. We need a woman's touch and I sense that you might be the one who can help us as we dawn upon a new era on Earth. After all, you are the Strigoi's daughter. I'm sure he would approve."

With animal-like senses, Duman turned to listen to the cracking of wood. Trees started to tumble down like dominoes until one large cedar started falling towards them. Duman raised a hand and blasted the tree away, creating a storm of smoke, dust and splinters of wood.

Helia burst out of the dust and flew at Duman with Riven's sword. The wizard backed away from Asta to evade the sword and Asta freed herself from her earthly shackle. Cornered between several fallen trees, Helia raised the sword to strike the fatal blow until at the last moment, Riven's blade cut black smoke.

"Let's get out of here, Asta!" Helia breathed harshly and tried to swat away the dust in his eyes.

The witch and specialist ran through the forest and finally leapt up to the top of a tree. Above them, the chopper hovered steadily and a harness line was thrown down. Helia attached himself and was pulled into the helicopter. Asta flew after him. The sound of the choppers blades were deafening. Their hearts were racing, wanting to run away as soon as possible.

Duman trailed after Asta in his miasmic form and finally coalesced himself between the witch and the chopper.

"Get out of my way! _Psychic thunder!_" Asta roared. She threw a bolt of lightning at Duman with all her anger, a concentrated and fatal shot. Duman absorbed it in one hand and threw it back at her with the other. Before she could register anything, Asta faced her own attack and blacked out from the incredible electric and white-hot pain.

"Asta!" Helia shot his laser strings out from the chopper to catch her body. He screamed when the threads found purchase and became taut with weight. He struggled to pull Asta up.

Two black portals flanked Duman and he summoned dark winged human shapes from black portals.

In the helicopter, Roxy gasped in terror and held on for dear life as Riven swerved the chopper. The sound of the blades was deafening even with the protective headphones on. The men had spotted trouble on their way and told Roxy to put out the fire and board the chopper as quickly as possible, leaving most of the equipment behind.

"Daemons?" Roxy heard Riven say on the headset. Riven concentrated on keeping the chopper steady but he could not help his eyes being drawn to Duman and the leathery winged angels.

The first daemon flew into the helicopter and crowded the artist with its wings and imposing body. It was male with opalescent skin, black as soot hair and red eyes. Sheer terror and instincts compelled Roxy to stay silent and hide. Instincts told her that she was in the presence of a hunter, a killer, an unmerciful being that would readily kill her for filthy lucre.

This being's appearance screamed, "Demon, the Devil's angel!"

She could not help but be drawn in to look at it still. It was doing nothing. Just standing and watching Helia struggle with Asta's dead weight. She was drawn to its wings. They were bat wings with a grey tint.

Without warning, she caught sight of a swishing forked tail, like she had always imagined on the Devil. It swung side to side like a cat's tail. The thing raised a hand and took its time as foot-long claws protruded from his fingers, intent on swiping Helia.

Terrified, Roxy shot a bolt of blue energy at it. It stumbled in the cramp space and almost fell out before catching a railing handle to stay right. Embolden, Roxy pelted another blue ball of magic at him but this time, the daemon swatted it away like a fly.

Helia felt his threads swing dangerously, becoming taut and lose in alarming intervals and then, he heard the strings snap.

At the sound, the daemon flew out of the chopper to Duman's side. The second demon held Asta's limp body in its arms.

"Helia, we're gonna have to leave her behind if we don't get outta here. We're outnumbered three to one!" Riven said.

Caught in a difficult decision, Helia cursed as he slid the chopper door closed and found his seat beside Riven to pilot the Earth vehicle back to Gardenia.

"We can't leave Asta behind!" Roxy screamed.

"I know," Helia said. Roxy could hear an underlying sadness in the artist's voice.

"But we have to," Riven said.

Helia turned back to look at the lake, their impromptu theatre of war, and found that Duman and the two summoned daemons had disappeared along with Asta.

**Latter Note:** You cannot imagine how many times this has been rewritten. Because I took longer to write this, I compressed what would have been ten chapters worth of story (I think).

On a bright note, I have been accepted to both language programs at the French and English cegeps that I applied to. Now, I'm torn up about which one I want.

**Forum pimping: **_Winx Writers Anonymous:_ Three other authors and I are starting a round robin fanfic prequel to the Winx Club. It's about how Domino/Sparks fell, the Three Witches, Dafne, etc. If you have suggestions, go to the forum or contact Stills and Photographs, Chibi Horsewoman, rogue-scholar07 or me.

Ciao!


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